I long for closure! I want the game to eventually be over, with a declaration of who has won. I don’t really care if everyone is declared a winner, running a marathon is, in the end, all about winners, but the show cannot go on forever. Most of life doesn’t seem that way. Politicians argue about policy, concentrating more on taking pot-shots than in implementing a improved approach or way of doing things. Community activists do no seem to need to worry about the economic stability of a city, just winning their case! People in the community focus more on exploiting what can be gained for the immediate than nurturing and taking care of the environment around themselves. Nothing reaches closure!
My frustration doesn’t end with the way we interact. Suffering often takes on a life of its own. Cancer’s spread and victory is usually measured in years. The pain in broken relationships last for decades and often complete lifetimes. What begins as a simple misuse of a word triggers an avalanche of emotional pain that defies any sense of proportion. How can one control what is uncontrollable? Is there an end to something that should have never had a beginning? Can we take charge of what ultimately is beyond our reach? Without any of these the situations appear to be without any closure other than death.
At times the lack of closure threatens to extinguish hope. Even the strongest wonder at times! Yet in John’s record of the final scenes I fine HOPE. The facts are that at some point the “Sea released its dead, Death and Hell turned in their dead. Each man and woman was judged by the way he or she had lived. [And] then Death and Hell were hurled into Lake Fire.” (Revelation 20.14)
Pain extinguished! Broken relationships vanished! Arguments ended! Hope realized! Recreation complete! Eternity unbroken!
Given this, let’s start the process now. We will have to face the bumps and pot-holes but victory is ours! We can have heaven today. Why wait? Everything is available, starting in this moment.
