True Reality

If you're ever in my home and wander into my study (or the junk room, which is overflow shelving), you'll notice I have a lot of books. Of those books, I have a few particular favorite genres (never ask for a [specific] favorite book; it's how I imagine it feels when you ask a parent his or her favorite child). In the world of fiction, for example, I have a sizable collection of science fiction and fantasy novels. I guess I like reading things about realities other than our own; things just seem more fun when the world is full of robots or wizards.

I had an interesting conversation last week that touched a bit on miracles. From one perspective, miracles are when God suspends the natural order of things and does something otherwise impossible. From a different perspective, however, miracles a little bit of a peek behind the curtain of eternity. Our temporary earth fails as an eternal heaven asserts itself and makes things line up with the perfect will of God -- on earth as it is in heaven.

That second idea has a lot of appeal for me. It tells me there's a deeper reality at play, something else that is really how things truly should be -- and will be after the end of the age. This humdrum earth will pass away, making way for a new creation, a perfect heaven and perfect earth. God's rule will be absolute, and His will, will be carried out to the fullest. A new world, and the only truly real one, will be birthed in an eternal dawn.

And that's better than any false reality in any novel ever could be -- because this story gets to come true forever.