The Weight of Glory

From I Corinthians 18:

35-38
Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

⁵¹ But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed.

I read this today, and thought of the other night when I was up late. I'd been working, and I got hot. So I went outside to cool off.

It was a gorgeous night, very clear and cool although not really cold. The breeze was wonderful; very refreshing. I looked up, and the stars were shining like Christmas ornaments. Not the usual brightness that just shines, but a twinkling light that was blue, then red, then green, then white, then blue -- in no particular pattern, just always different. It seems like all the "big" stars did that, while others just shone white. I kept saying "diamonds, they're diamonds in the sky" over and over, marvelling.

I stood there and thanked God for his beautiful creation. Along with the stars was all the green in my yard -- the grass, the trees, the flowers, the herbs. It's just a regular yard, nothing special or even terribly organised. But does it really have to be? God's creation is at its most beautiful when it is at its wildest. Perfect landscaping is wonderful for a yard, but it can't hold a candle to an entire field full of lavender that just volunteered.

As I stood there thanking God for this, I remembered that C.S. Lewis was always reminding of what Paul told us: that this world, this life, is just a poor reflection of the life and world that is to come. Easy to say -- difficult to imagine. The key is to remember that we're not talking about some fictional idea. It's a real place, in a real location, where real beings live. And I'm looking forward to being there as I have never longed for a place in my life.

I'll leave you today with another favourite quote from C.S. Lewis in "The Weight of Glory:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare. . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."

xoxox