Kerri and I are traveling to Calgary to help finish the cleaning out of my parents’ home. The trip and the task in front of us come with an emotional load. We have been married for 34 years. In that time, we’ve experienced several moves and other changes. But the one thing that was constant was going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. For both our kids and us, my parents and their home were like an oasis and refuge.Through the prompting of some conversations early in the week, I have been experiencing a flood of memories. That combination took me to the word of Ecclesiastes 3 and there being a time for everything. But that did not help with the emotional load. Then I came to Ecclesiastes 3:11, which reads: He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done for the beginning to the end.
Verse 11 begins with a promise. God will make everything beautiful in its time. But driving the road we are on makes me wonder how can that promise be true. Solomon was not inspired to answer my question, at least not directly. He next tells us that God has put eternity in our hearts, yet not in a way that we totally can grasp. That truth can be a cause of frustration. But as a book I read right after my mom’s death suggested, this notion of eternity is a reminder to me that there is more to life beyond what I can see. God has a bigger picture. But that still creates tension for me. I am feeling a tsunami of emotions without being able to see the complete bigger picture. How can I embrace the promise of verse 11? Verses 12 and 13 go to speak of good things, joyful things. To be precise, even speaking of a gift of God. Those words brought the words of Romans 8:32 to mind. That verse reads: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
When life is confusing and hard, there is no better place to run than the cross. Through the cross and the resurrection that followed, the beauty and goodness of God toward us were put on display. And in the Holy Spirit-inspired words of Paul, that truth tells us about how God will operate in our lives going forward. I am not yet seeing the beauty of leaving my parents’ home for the last time. Boy, those are hard words to type. But because of the cross, I know that God will bring what I need to do that and bring it graciously. I guess you could say bring it in a way that wil make it beautiful in time. Please ponder with me today amid your emotional loads, how the cross can bring each of us God’s goodness and beauty. May we be forever grateful for the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.