"I Can't Wrap My Head Around It"
A Glimpse of Heaven on Earth amidst Death and Destruction
I saw something this morning that nearly took my breath away. It was in the middle of a news segment. One of the top stories. This one about the ongoing war between Russian and Ukraine. Russia had just retaliated for Ukraine’s drone strikes days earlier. More deaths. More destruction. More arguing. More fear. Diminishing hope.
Before the reporter on the ground in Ukraine sent it back to the studio in the States, the camera panned across several children playing in a water fountain outside a building. Their mom was with them, playing along. They were drenched with water. They were laughing. They were dancing. There were giggles and large smiles.
The reporter asked the mom, “There were Russian attacks nearby only several hours ago. Yet people are still out and about. Why is that?” She replied, “I can’t wrap my head around it either. . . people are dying, kids are dying. And tomorrow, the sun will shine and we will keep living.”
In the midst of a story about an ongoing two-year plus war, there were images of a mom playing with her children in a water feature near a recently bombed area. When asked how, she could only muster, “I can’t wrap my head around it either.” My translation of what she was saying? “It doesn’t make sense.”
My interpretation of what my eyes were seeing and what she was participating in? A glimpse of heaven on earth. A sign of what is to come. Life with Jesus when everything is finally made new. Like the shoot from Isaiah’s prophetic stump and the branch from the predicted root - hope amidst terror and despair. Our hearts ultimate longing. When pain and suffering are no more and children can laugh and play in the once war-torn streets. It doesn’t make sense. But kingdom sense rarely does.
The reporter noticed. The mom noticed. Neither could wrap their heads around what they were witnessing. But the snapshot of glory gave her hope: “Tomorrow the sun will shine and we will keep living.” Yes ma’am. You were participating in a glimmer of hope of life beyond war. There is another kingdom. A kingdom that reigns where there is no war. The sun will never stop shining because the light will be from a Son. We won’t be able wrap our finite minds around it. But that’s okay. Every day we will simply be given the freedom to enjoy.
What gift has God put in front of you today? What glimmer of hope? What shoot from a dry and dusty stump? What evidence of God’s kingdom now, shedding light on what is to come? Let’s not let news reporters have all the fun. You probably won’t be able to wrap your head around it. It’s okay. It doesn’t have to make sense.