All of us have times...
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All of us have times that are absolutely euphoric. Times like --
An evening with a friend so delightful we wish it would never end.
A concert that has such delightful music we wish it would go on and on and on.
A vacation that went so well that we did not want to come home.
A party we enjoyed so much that we wanted it to be forever.
Unique experiences that we knew when they were happening they could never be duplicated.
At times like these we catch just a glimpse of the vision of what the realms of glory might be like. We even use such terms to describe the moments we wish we could capture and hold: "It was divine!" "It was heavenly!" "It was paradise!" "It was glorious!"
Such moments seem to capture our very being, holding them as though "in a spell." We catch just a fleeting vision of something that we sense ought to just go on forever -- an evening, a concert, a vacation, a party, an experience of special dimensions.
But that is not how life is. Those moments of refreshment and at times even moments of glimpses into "glory-land" only give us a new way to return to everyday life. That life will never be the same again because of such moments, of course, for they remain with us from that time on. But they serve to point us forward to glory by looking back and remembering the little bit of glory we once saw.
Peter, John, and James could tell us about a time like that!
An evening with a friend so delightful we wish it would never end.
A concert that has such delightful music we wish it would go on and on and on.
A vacation that went so well that we did not want to come home.
A party we enjoyed so much that we wanted it to be forever.
Unique experiences that we knew when they were happening they could never be duplicated.
At times like these we catch just a glimpse of the vision of what the realms of glory might be like. We even use such terms to describe the moments we wish we could capture and hold: "It was divine!" "It was heavenly!" "It was paradise!" "It was glorious!"
Such moments seem to capture our very being, holding them as though "in a spell." We catch just a fleeting vision of something that we sense ought to just go on forever -- an evening, a concert, a vacation, a party, an experience of special dimensions.
But that is not how life is. Those moments of refreshment and at times even moments of glimpses into "glory-land" only give us a new way to return to everyday life. That life will never be the same again because of such moments, of course, for they remain with us from that time on. But they serve to point us forward to glory by looking back and remembering the little bit of glory we once saw.
Peter, John, and James could tell us about a time like that!
