All shall be well
All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things will be made well.
- Julian of Norwich
The Far Country
God is at home. We are in the Far Country. – Meister Eckhart
Psalm 137 begins as the exiled Israelites are demanded to sing songs of joy by their captors. The Israelites refuse. They hang their harps on trees and ask:
How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?1
The entire video above is excellent, but Rich Mullins makes a particularly insightful comment around the minute mark when he asks, “what land have we ever been in that isn’t foreign?”
Are we really in that much different a place than those Israelites? If so, how are we supposed to sing songs of joy? I can see singing songs asking for deliverance. I understand singing request for freedom. But joy? How on earth are we supposed to be joyful under these conditions?
The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews includes a litany of saints who placed their trust in God. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. They were stoned and put to death by the sword. Others were sawed in two.2
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.3
God is not ashamed to be called my God. He has prepared a city for me. Because of Jesus Christ, I’ve already been delivered and my present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in me.4 – These are my reasons for joy.
- Psalm 137: 4 ↩
- Parts of Hebrews 11:35-38 ↩
- Hebrews 11:13-16 ↩
- Romans 8:18 ↩
Remembering Corey Dillon
What is it about being young?
I saw my 9 years of age buddy today. I’ve known him since he was about 4. He loves the Red Sox, Celtics and even the New England Revolution. He plays hockey sometimes, too. He plays shortstop for his baseball team and let me know all about the fall league that is about to begin. He told me about the time he hit a home run. Another time, he hit a triple. He stopped at third because the coach told him to stop, but he knows that he could have made it home safely. His soccer team plays against the older kids. In their last game, he scored the team’s only goal.
There is something about his eyes. They’re subtly wild and dance back and forth. They’re more colorful than most. Something about them screams youth and innocence and hope. He can’t wait for the future. He wonders which major league baseball team he will play for, but has vowed to never play for the Yankees. He wonders if he’ll end up on the same team as his friend.
* * *
I remember carefully studying the seniors during my first year at Boston University. I wanted to know if they were happy. If they were happy, I would know that the school had treated them well. I searched for signs of satisfaction and fulfillment. I figured that I would be in their place in a few years and wanted to get some clues as to my own future. They didn’t look particularly happy, though. They looked kind of stressed and tired. They looked a little beaten up. They looked worn out.
After graduating, I started studying elderly people. I studied people who had done their best to live an upright life. I looked for signs of joy or peace or even happiness. I wanted to know if they had been paid off for their efforts. What exactly was their reward?
* * *
Life takes a toll on everybody. Injuries mess up what was once a promising sports career. A broken relationship brings a level of pain a youngster never knew existed. Friends move away. Loved ones die. Color is drained from the face. Hurt hardens hearts. Bright eyes gradually go dull.
I wonder how many people are truly happy with how things have worked out for them. Is today really the tomorrow we dreamed about yesterday? It is the future, for sure, but I don’t ever recall dreaming about this. I never signed up for the life I’m living. This was never part of my plans.
* * *
The last chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes begins like this:
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”1
It goes on to list a bunch of other lousy things that will happen. I’m not sure I understand what this book is saying. Remember God before life begins to suck? Is that the lesson? And isn’t it easier to remember God in the days of your youth? Isn’t it a bit harder to remember God when nothing turns out right? Shouldn’t the warning be to remember God when everything falls apart? And just what are you supposed to do when the days of trouble come? Are you supposed to stop remembering? Is all the remembering you did earlier in life supposed to carry you through? Is all hope destined to end in despair?
* * *
I was in a flower shop recently and marveled at the beautiful flowers. I thought it was rather pointless for them to look so beautiful. 
Like the Ultimate Warrior, flowers have no staying power. In just a few short days, they are dead. Is one single day so important that God would cause the prime of this beautiful little creation to be so short?
Flowers are like running backs. Running backs have 3 or 4 years of glory and are soon forgotten. Just ask Corey Dillon. It wasn’t too long ago that he was a rising star. Nobody really thinks about him much anymore. He is yesterday’s flower. The same fate awaits LaDanian Tomlinson. No amount of rushing yards will bring him immortality. It may take longer, but eventually he will be forgotten like most everybody else. His spotlight is already starting to fade.
* * *
Sometimes, I’m taken aback and the ridiculousness of it all. We get dropped off in our Mother’s wound and are born into a world of confusion. It’s like we entered a game in progress, but no one ever sat down with us to fully explained all the rules. We have so many questions, but have to keep playing the game as we search for answers.
If there is one thing I’m learning more and more these days, it’s that none of us have much of a clue as to what is going on. As Donald Miller puts it, we have the sense that certain events mean something, but we’re not sure what. Ecclesiastes says it this way: No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it. He has set eternity in our hearts, but we cannot fathom what He has done from beginning to end.2
* * *
Maybe one point of remembering is to enjoy what we have while we have it. The Message Bible puts it this way, “Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.”3
And, when we get too old to enjoy life as much, it is great to have children around. Maybe it’s a good and okay thing to live vicariously through them every now and then as well. I can’t help but get caught up in their awe of things and I need a picture of those bright eyes to soften my own hardened and jaded gaze. The look of wonder in his eyes couldn’t help but bring back a little of my own.
And, when life as we know it ends, life better than we ever could have imagined can begin. I hope that my little friend eventually comes to know the person who died to secure a place for him in eternity. A place that is a thousand times better than being the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox could ever be. It’s the place that his little eyes know he was made for. A place where wilder than the most wild of dreams comes true.
Eternity
Do you often ask a question,
you don’t know the answer to?
Like why the grass is green
or why the sky is blue?
Do the answers ever satisfy
your curiosity?
Have you studied little flowers
and marveled at what you’ve seen?
Is there something you’re reaching for,
something you desire?
Do you want to slay the dragons,
with your little heart on fire?
Do you gaze upon the clouds
and slip outside of time?
But fear you don’t amount to much,
like a nickel with the dimes?
Do you know that something is missing?
Does it ever make you sad?
Do your dreams keep you up at night
because you want it so bad?
Do you have an ache within
that the cookie jar can’t undo?
Does your heart hold a fairy tale,
you fear will never come true?
Well I don’t have all the answers,
but I know a thing or two
The something that you’re searching for
is calling out to you
The deep things call to deep,
this hunger isn’t for food
The questions point to answers,
your heart is being wooed
Someone is in the details,
He has been there all along
He is strong when you are weak
and gives a brand new song
His invisible qualities are seen,
you can hear without a sound
He can fill your heart with greater joy
than when new wine abounds
I don’t know how deep the ocean goes
or when time got its start
But I know that you wonder
because eternity was set in your heart
Well I don’t have all the answers,
but there’s one thing I must tell you
Forever does exist
where wildest dreams come true
Crash
That dish fell right out of my hands;
It hit the floor and shattered
Once it left my fingertips, I knew it was over
Things would never be the same
I let go instead of holding tight
Now, I hold tight instead of letting go
I pick up the few remaining pieces
And remember the way things used to be
One day, everything will be restored.
This wasn’t supposed to happen
