Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: The Kingdom of God (03/12/09)
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TITLE: Already... But Not Yet | Previous Challenge Entry
By Emily Gibson
03/19/09 -
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It was an "already but not yet" kind of week. Spring has already arrived if one looks at the calendar. Yet there are not the typical signs of full-fledged spring. The frogs have not begun to chorus at night, the orchard buds are staying stubbornly small, the tulip blossoms are staying tight and green, the grass is only beginning to show growth, the snow is still low in the hills. So there is a “not yet” feel to spring. We continue to wait, hopeful.
One of our mares seemed "all ready" to deliver her foal last week when we needed to be away for the farm for a couple days, so a "horse sitter" came and stayed until we returned, and but the foal arrival time was "not yet", so it was an exceedingly boring mare watch for her.
My 85 year old mother spent the week in the hospital after suffering a small stroke which affected her balance and coordination. Though not a major setback for her physically, it was a blow to her confidence and makes her feel vulnerable to future strokes, which may be worse next time. She knows, after a long healthy life, she should be "all ready" for the day the Lord takes her home, but it is "not yet" her time.
I am already in the midst of my own life transition with plummeting hormonal levels in my 50s as my teenage daughter's peak. I'm most definitely in the proverbial middle of the generational sandwich--whether I'm the meat, the cheese or a condiment is not clear to me. What I do know is that I'm not yet done with this very challenging and compressed part of my life.
Already but not yet. There is tension in knowing that something profound is happening--a vanishing sunset, a vernal equinox, a life change or transition, but the transformation is not yet complete, and I’m not sure when it will be. I am still unfinished business.
In a few weeks I will be reminded of what is yet to come. I will know the shock of the empty tomb. My heart will burn within me as more is revealed to me, through the simple act of bread breaking.
It is finished on my behalf.
I’m all ready.
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The writing was the perfect tone for the content.
Mona
On a serious note, Gregory preached a sermon on the Kingdom of God at least 10 years ago on this theme. I have never forgotten it. It was the most helpful take on the subject I have ever heard. We truly do live in that tension, much as we would prefer everything to be 'tidy'. Well done for some excellent illustrations from daily life that make the unseen things easier to understand.