Tip of My Iceberg

photo courtesy of Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

They’ve left. Without a trace.

Except for a box of pancake mix and a bowl of baked beans.

The fourteen college students who stayed here for Spring break have left for the northern climes of Indiana, where winter still reigns and snow will welcome them home.

The surprise was they left our home in better shape than when they came.

I’m a good housekeeper. Healthy clean, not necessarily deep clean. The house was in great shape when they all got here.

The morning they left, they vacuumed, took all the sheets off their beds, cleaned up the bathroom, and put everything in order.

They left a bouquet of flowers and a delightful card expressing their gratitude for staying at our home.

Who does stuff like that?

We had no expectations when we agreed to host these students. We had the space, we were willing, and it wasn’t an imposition. I anticipated needing to do some serious cleaning when they were gone. It is, after all, spring.

So few things in life become better with use. Most things wear out or become outdated as they age. Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha, made the comment, “We begin to die from the moment we are born, for birth is the cause of death.” With all of life, there will be death.

God created us for life, for Eden, where beauty abounds and life works in the way it was intended.

He is the only One who can make wholeness out of our mess.

The prophet Isaiah spoke to the Israelites to remind them of His faithfulness despite their faithlessness to Him.

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

The Israelites knew what the wilderness was, the place of their wandering, and the times when they felt adrift and uncertain. God promised them His hope.

Which He does for us now. He offers us life for eternity. A life worth living.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4

What God offers is better than anything we could hope for here.

Better than the best life you could ever imagine.

It’s worth considering.