Promise of Eternity

The world as we know is ending; there is no choice; we have no choice. There is nothing we can do to stop it. It is a mortal fact. We are born from our mothers’ womb, and within one hundred years, our personal world dies. We build a life for naught. We educate ourselves, we marry, we have children, we educate them, we work, we retire, then we take the time to look at nature. What we build may last, only if we have done something that benefits mankind, and if it does, perhaps it will last, but to eternity? Who knows!

Right now, I am looking at a gold finch sitting on a lilac branch just outside my window. She is beautiful with a bright yellow body and a black mask hiding intelligent eyes. Why didn’t I notice her when I was younger? Was I too busy? Did I not care? Was I not smart enough to see beyond my own nose?

I do know that I am smart enough to know that God forgives me for anything that I may have done. God has allowed me to open my heart to love all whom I meet. In my later years, I have learned to love all whom I meet. This has made me a happier person. Other people are fun; they are interesting; they are lovely. They are God’s children. They are my siblings. I enjoy meeting and talking with them; they become my friends, part of my family.

I have asked God’s forgiveness for my past mistakes of not loving those I have met. Acceptance of others and all their faults, coupled with the recognition that they see my faults, allows me to love, just as Jesus asks. Repentance is at hand, and is easy to accept, and to go through when I realize that my life has been one of one human mistake after another. My life now is one of atonement. I try!

Do we have the strength to be community? Do we have enough love to be community? If we have the joy to join together in love to form the community of God where we love together, eat together, work together, share together, care together, and pray together, can we live and enjoy the love of God in our midst. Can we call this the promise of Eternity? We’ve done it before, but always after periods of destructive war. Then, after a period of peace that never truly lasts, we again grow apart and close ourselves off in our own cellars of protection.

But we are only protecting ourselves from ourselves.

Our true legacies; the ones that are the promise of eternity are family. The seeds we plant in the minds of our family that are passed on from generation to generation are our true promise of eternity. I say this because mt children and grandchildren will remember me; my great-grandchildren will never know me, but what I have passed on and they pass on are my contributions that God gave me, and God gives them to pass on through eternity. This is my promise of eternity. I pray it is good; I pray it is worthy of eternity.