Is this all there is?

Dreams Unfulfilled?

As soon as I saw the wall hanging with the image of the cross covered in seashells and sand, I knew I had to buy it. For me, it represented Julia’s perfect life in heaven – walking along a beach lined with beautifully colored stones and shells and water that glistened in the sun.

The cross represents both death and dreams fulfilled, a seeming contradiction. As humans, we view death as a final blow, an abrupt end to life as we know it. Unless you’re 100 years old, death always seems untimely and a “show stopper” of the life we expect to live.

But the scripture calls death “a crossing over from death to life.”

How can death simultaneously be both an end and a beginning?

Philip Yancey reminds us that we actually are living in chaos. We’re not living the life we were meant to live. 

 

“All of us live out our days

 

In the in-between,

 

The interval of chaos and confusion,

 

Between death and reappearance.

 

Although such a time may be temporary,

 

And may pale into insignificance

 

Alongside the glorious future that awaits us,

 

Right now it is all we know,

 

And that is enough

 

To bring tears to our eyes.” ~Philip Yancy, The Jesus I Never Knew

 

Julia’s love for the beach was reflected in a collage she had made for a college class just a month before she passed away. We set it out at her funeral:

 “One item stood out—a large poster leaning against the back wall of her closet. Photos had been arranged into groups showing her likes, dislikes, views of herself, and dreams for her future. In the bottom right-hand corner, a collection of photos depicted her “Dreams for the Future.” A map of the state of Florida, palm trees, and a large sun made up half the collection.The other half included a group of dogs, marriage rings with the word “married” above it, and a girl working at a desk with a laptop.”(Beyond Broken)

 

She died before her dreams could be realized. Life just seemed so unfair at that moment. She would not only never live in Florida, she would never get married or have children or even graduate college. Weren’t those the milestones that every person should experience?

 

After Jesus was crucified, his disciples had also believed that their dreams were dashed. 

 

“They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ 

 ‘What things?’ he asked.

‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;  but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.’” (Luke 24:17 – 21)

These two men had put their hope in a fulfillment of a promise made to them. 

Have you ever asked, “Is this all there is?” 

I have. I was a teenager when I began asking myself, “Why am I here? What is truth? What is my purpose?”

Thankfully there was someone to open up the scriptures to me, just as the two men experienced on the road to Emmaus.

 

“Jesus said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’”

(Luke 24:25-27; 31,32)

 

Easter is the most significant holiday for all of mankind. Without the resurrection, “we are to be pitied more than all men…” (1 Corinthians 15:19). Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is what has allowed us to “cross over from death to life.”  The resurrection allows us the chance to have every dream fulfilled that we were unable to fulfill on earth. 

 

The resurrection costs Jesus his life. It only costs you your faith. 

 

Will you believe that  “he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith…”? (Colossians 1:22,23)

 

Rejoice! He has risen indeed!

 

And because HE lives, one day I will cross that river, after fighting life’s final war with pain, and walk forever on the pristine shores of heaven, holding Julia’s hand.