From Forever to Forever

As promised....some pictures from the great-gramma surprise.  Four generations of 'Ruth's'.  My Mom, Ruth Elaine; me Ruth Anne; my daughter, Kristyn Ruth, and my granddaughter, Abby Ruth.


And it all just reinforces what I've been meditating on of late.

Praise be to you O LORD
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
1 Chronicles 29:10

This is only a small piece of a bigger prayer King David prayed at the beginning of something very important for the people of God - the building of the Temple.  And while the broader portion brings rich imagery and lots to ponder, it's this 'everlasting' bit that's caught my attention this morning.

"From forever to forever" is the more literal translation from the Hebrew.  Either way, it's a long time.  A long time to be God.

The eternal nature of God is beyond our understanding as finite beings.  For us, everything has a beginning and everything has an end.  At least in our physical realm.  But spiritually, we have the opportunity to unite ourselves with this Eternal Being.  And when we do, everything changes.  Time itself takes on entirely new dimensions.  What seems so urgent isn't so urgent.  Priorities realign themselves.

Even my own safety, my security, is altered in this timeless reality.  For is God is love and He is for me, then in every circumstance that has come before and every circumstance I will face ahead, and even in this moment, no matter how I'm experiencing it, Eternal God is right here, right 'now'.  And as I remember what has happened before, the hard times especially, but also the joyful, Eternal God was right there, right then.  And as I look ahead, Eternal God will be right there, right then.

I'm a summer girl.  And summer is unofficially over starting tomorrow.  Right now in my daily responsibilities there are some significant adjustments required with some potentially challenging unknowns ahead.  Standing on this particular threshold, I could feel anxious.

But today, at least, I am not.  There is a forever God watching over this entire process called my life.  And bigger than that, everything that seems so enormous and important to me is framed within God's broader plans and purposes.  His forever purposes.

My Mom's 86.  I'm 56.  My daughter's 31.  Abby's 7.  And God is forever watching over us all.  Time dimensions.