One day last week.
Me:  Guess what?  It’s only 18 days till Spring!
Husband:  What?!  It’s only 18 days?  It feels like 18 months.
Sigh.  Sometimes it does seem like a long wait till we get what we hope for.  

Husband answered the phone.  I could hear that it was his brother’s voice on the other end.  Then I saw the serious expression on Husband’s face.  It was unusual for my brother-in-law to call, so I braced for unwelcome news about Husband’s parents who are now in their nineties and live next door to him.  It was a scare, there are concerns, but for now, they are ok.  During the conversation, Husband’s brother said something that got me thinking.  He said that as we get older, we have more frequent reminders that we live in a broken world.  Our bodies remind us.  (Enough said.)  Our friends and family remind us as they face difficult circumstances.  Life reminds us. Things aren’t what we’d like them to be.  Then he said something that made a lot of sense.  It’s ok to be reminded.  Good, even.  We must accept that we live in a broken world.  We accept that things on this earth will never be everything we’d hoped for.  It’s the way it is now.  The stars in our eyes have faded and we have a clearer vision of reality.  But it makes the hope for that perfect world to come more real.

This morning I saw things that made me feel like Spring is coming- both physically and spiritually.  I have good things to look forward to! I saw a young girl skipping in the sunshine.  Vibrancy, happiness, health.  All those I will enjoy forever.  In church this morning, I was blessed even before church started. What a joy to talk to old and new friends.  A rambunctious four-year-old stopped to hug Husband’s leg.  He and his family had been to our house a few days prior and now there was a bond.  A teenager took time to make plans to come over this week. A new friend shared phone photos of their newborn calf.  (These were the wonderful perks of a home business!)  A dear friend hugged me with a smile even tho he is suffering from a painful ailment.  All around me people were talking, smiling, hugging.  Talk about a foretaste of Heaven! When we sat down, I smelled an unpleasant aroma and realized the young man in the seat in front of us was lacking in personal hygiene.  I prayed for him during the singing and sermon, because it was obvious he had trouble reading and following what was going on.  Afterward, we talked with him as he put a heavy pack on his back.  He was homeless.  Yet, he could and we do have an eternal home.  At the beginning of the church service, Husband had called my attention to a young couple with an infant.  We know that they are already fostering a toddler beside their own two young boys, so we guessed that they have also taken an infant to foster.  The woman held the baby tenderly, attentive to her needs.  While we were singing as a congregation, I saw her cradling the baby in one arm and raising the other in worship.  Lucky baby to land in that woman’s loving care!  It may change the course of her life.  The course of my life has been changed and guided by the loving care of my Heavenly Father.   

We recently were informed that Husband has to have some expensive dental work done. We gritted our teeth- well, not literally! and committed it to the Lord.  It was an unexpected cost after we had just purchased four new tires.  Broken world.  But after his consultation appointment with the specialist, we received a call from her.  She is gifting us her work at a 50% discount!  A few days ago we got our monthly electric bill.  To our dismay, it was two and a half times our normal bill amount.  Broken world.  But it alerted us to the fact that our heat pump had failed during the coldest month of the year and the expensive-to-run electric furnace had kicked in.  Now we can address the root problem of the high electricity bill.  While Husband was splitting wood to make a fire in our wood stove, he hurt his back.  Broken world. 

Soon everything will be set right.  We look forward to wonderful things ahead.  If Jesus should come before we die, we’ll welcome him with eagerness.  And if not, we have confidence that when we die, we’ll enter a perfect place.  We are already citizens of that other world and are enjoying some of its privileges now. Peace in spite of this broken world.  Love that is so deep it will carry us into the next life.  Joy no matter what our circumstances.

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”  Jesus in John 14:27

Every time we are reminded by bad news or pain that we live in a broken world, we can let it remind us that we are headed for a better world.  We accept these occurrences as normal for this world and eagerly anticipate the world to come.  And in the meantime, we savor each moment of happiness here as a glimpse of the unending happiness to come. 

“he will remove the cloud of gloom,
the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.

He will swallow up death forever!
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.”  Isaiah 25:7-8

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:4 referencing Isaiah 25:8

“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”  Jesus in John 14:3 

“Maranatha!  (Our Lord, come!)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” 1 Corinthians 16:22-23