Friday, June 29, 2007

Renewal

I just had a moment in which I decided that I want things to be as they used to be. The question then forced upon me was of just how far back I want to go. Do I want to go to a year ago when there was seemingly no drama amongst my current close friends? A few years ago when I belonged to and was surrounded by a group of college peers and intimate friends? Could I go back to a time when my parents still loved each other and my family was actually a unit? I think that when I say I want things to be as they used to be, I am really just mourning the loss and brokenness of something I once treasured. There was something beautiful, something right about those things that I miss. I suppose when it all comes down to it, I should really wish to go back all the way to when God created us in the first place. That was the only time when things were as they should be. It is the "used to be" of God... and I know I cannot begin to comprehend the sorrow God must feel as we continually break away from it, even with the realization of my own losses. Yet God is moving forward and calling us to a renewal. So now I am faced with the question of if I really want things to be as they used to be, or as they should be, why don't I more often take to heart the lessons taught by Jesus? Why do I fail to daily take on the commission of bringing heaven to earth. The commands are there. What Jesus says heaven is like is what I should be striving for moment after moment. Visiting the sick and the imprisoned. Feeding the hungry. Clothing the naked. Seeing needs and TAKING ACTION! That is the pragmatic way of moving things to where I long for them to be; the way they used to be, the way they should be, the way they will be.