Eternity is Right Now

As a boy of roughly 8 there were numerous evenings where the attempts at sleep were long fought for. My futile efforts at sleeping produced by thinking and worrying. Thoughts starting small like a spark travelling along a line that hits a conductor giving power to a myriad of new lines. One such fateful occasion, which, oft came as I thought on time and space of all things. Laying in the dark my imagination took me into space where I could see Earth, it became distant and I would seemingly be placed into emptiness and darkness. It would make me cry as I considered the thought that this would go on for ever, the Earth would have its place in the galaxy and the dark loneliness of space would stretch out forever. What am I meant to do? It would never end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 blows my mind when I think back on having those thoughts. “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Unfortunately I will never fathom eternity due to my lack of omniscience, plus I cannot live outside of time and space. That aside, something to be understood of eternity is that we are stuck in it and we can choose to recognise that. There is an innate awareness of the infinite in us, it opens our eyes enough to be in awe of God who is infinite and eternal, and enough to hope for eternal life after death. Unintentionally I planted a memory that would grow into a habit of seeing things from an eternal perspective. It takes my thinking away from worrying on how little time we have to live and allows me to place myself in the big picture. This perspective helps my positivity in dire times, it shrinks the problem and I can tell myself that this will not last forever. There is hope in the grace of God, without that hope I am lost here in this earthly playground and my thoughts on the future are vain. As a Christian everything material on Earth should be seen as temporal, our bodies and treasures but not our souls. Through the lens of eternity our souls are the only thing to be seen and God the Creator gives them meaning in the mire. God enables our souls to be the light of this world, a light leading ourselves and others to eternity with him. The trappings of this world will ensnare those happy enough to indulge it, until all lights are down. Then comes separation. Our souls will outlast the stretches of the universe, where will you choose to home it? Eternity is right now.