Jem, my son, will turn 8 this month. Over the past couple of years his increasing mental and physical development has allowed us to enjoy doing more and more activities with each other. And so we ride bikes and throw the football and play board games and work in the yard and go on hikes in the woods. Though our ability to do those things together were limited in his early years, one of my joys in this season of parenting is being able to do more and more with him each year.
My relationship to Jem has helped me to think about the way we relate to God. In this life we are limited in the ways we can know and experience God. Though the death and resurrection of Christ has opened the way for us to know God, and the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit always keeps us connected to God, the reality is that we still live in a fallen world and still battle with our flesh and still have an enemy who opposes us. We all struggle to be consistently dependent upon God, and sometimes we experience seasons where we feel little to none of God’s presence.
Though our experience of God’s presence can feel pretty up and down in this life, one of the greatest promises of eternity is that we will perfectly experience the presence of God. We will see him, and he will dwell with us in tangible ways that are unfathomable to us now. When Jem was still a baby, I used to sit around and think about the things I would do with him when he was older, and now I’m getting to experience some of those things. We need to do the same thing as we think about God in eternity. If you had a full day with God, how would you plan it? Would you discuss a book with him, sit by a fire and roast marshmallows, go shopping, prepare a meal, build a birdhouse, sing your favorite hymn, go mud-riding in a four-wheeler?
I encourage you to take some time to plan a day with God. Perhaps start by reading through the gospels to see the kinds of things Jesus did and talked about with people while he was on the earth; in addition, think about the activities you enjoy most doing now. This is also a great exercise to do with your kids! Remember, what we long for when we long for eternity is being with God, so let’s start using our imaginations to tangibly think about what that will be like.