The scene is absolutely breathtaking. The sun has risen behind the hills to the east and shoots its rays across the mist. The sky is that light, morning blue. The trees are every shade of green. A little family of ducks pass silently across the surface of the still waters. But what is so eye-catching is the mist rising from the lake. It makes me think of the garden of Eden. I wonder if this is what God meant when he said, “But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground” (Genesis 2:6). Oh, the beauty. We live in a cursed world and yet its beauty catches our breath at every return. Can we even imagine what heaven must be like?
There is another thought. Another world lives beneath this water as smooth as glass, so still you think you could walk right across it. You cannot see that world, but the man at the other end of the lake certainly hopes to disturb it and bring home dinner. They swim and feed and sleep beneath these waters, and it reminds me of the spirits of the underworld. When I look at the news of the day, I can become frightened because of the sinister moves that seem to be dictating so many actions on our planet: twisted thoughts and cruel actions. At the hand of a few comes so much destruction. I must admit that even my optimistic heart trembles at the thought of what might be coming. Are the Kings of the East aligning themselves? Is the turbulence in Israel part of the Last Day’s prelude? Is the destruction of so many Christians—so accepted across the globe—the precursor to Antichrist?
And then, like the mist swirling across this sea of glass, my thoughts rise to the One who is in control. He draws those misty dancers up to the sunlight in this obscure world of beauty. He reminds me through those swirling mists that there is a power far greater than any that lies beneath. He is in charge! His plan will come to pass. Someday, like those mists, we will rise from this beautiful, cursed world to another world that is beyond description. Although great poets pick up their pens and try to capture heaven’s beauty with earthly words, it is an impossible task. I just rest in the fact that this truly is my Father’s world—here in the stillness of this tiny piece of forest and out there way beyond that blue sky.
Beyond Common Sense 