A Moment of Resurrection

The sky was aflame.

I have found that there is something resurrecting about a plane ride. Whether you are traveling somewhere new or familiar, homeward bound or off to the ends of the earth, to get there, you usually have to hop on a ride through the sky. The details of your life, your physical body, must be unpinned, so to speak, from your current spot on the map, and set down in a new location. It’s unsettling, and exciting, and refreshing, every single time. In many ways, it’s like a new beginning.

On a recent flight, headed from one home to another, I was struggling yet again with a heart torn in two over my love for two different places, with an untethered feeling that grows with each year that I live this abundantly blessed life between two continents. Our plane approached Seattle as dawn was breaking over the eastern sky. I was listening to a playlist of Christian music, and just as the first bright rays began to slant through the windows of the plane, a new song started to play.

“God, You’re faithful as the sunrise

Surely You’ll never leave

And Your goodness lasts a lifetime

The promises you have for me.”

My eyes misted over with sudden tears at the wonder of the timing. I don’t believe in coincidences; I choose instead to firmly believe in the goodness of a God who takes delight in timing such moments in our lives.

I looked around the plane full of people, of adults all craning their necks and leaning to catch a glimpse of the sunrise out the windows. There was a childlike delight in it all – to see grownups whose lives are all too often focused on prosaic necessities and the humdrum, who have no time for childlike wonder – to see them so eager to catch a glimpse of the light was a beautiful thing. It had been a long, cold, cramped, and rather dramatic plane ride, and it seemed that all of our souls were in need of the startling beauty of the sunrise that morning.

But the sunrise comes every morning. It seems such an extravagance on the part of a God who surely has so many more crucial things to do, doesn’t it? The sun doesn’t have to come up in a blazing burst of color and wonder and triumphant joy. It doesn’t have to go down the same way, either. Yet that faithful beauty is something that our Lord chose to weave into the fabric of the universe, to grace our tired eyes and weary souls every day of our lives.

And yet, we still question His goodness. We doubt His faithfulness. We wonder about the strength of His love. As babies die and injustice rages and the world groans to be redeemed, we let ourselves sink into despair and wallow in disbelief that God could actually be good. He writes His faithfulness in the sky every single morning, each evening, and in a thousand million tiny ways throughout each moment of our lives, drawing us gently to Him with cords of lovingkindness. It’s as if He knew we would need a daily, a twice daily reminder of his constant love. Friendships fade, careers come to an end, people let us down (as we, in our turn, will fail them), but the faithfulness of God endures forever.

I sometimes wonder if our inability to fully trust the goodness of God stems from our own incapacity to be faithful, to remain steadfast, to show up every day and be enough in every relationship, friendship, and duty in our own lives. As part of a generation that often seems to struggle with commitment, that shrinks from the idea of tethering ourselves to a place, to a person, to a job, to simple plans with friends, to the will of someone other than our own, the idea of the vast steadfastness of our Lord is difficult for us to really get our hands around and hold onto.

So, He lovingly nudges reminders into our days – the fragile beauty of willful flowers that refuse to die, the patience of others, the vivid hues of a sunrise. He is as relentless in His pursuit of us as we could ever ask or dream. May we dwell on His faithfulness, may we bask in His love. May it encourage us to be faithful, where He has planted us, to all that He has called us to do. Thank God for His goodness that lasts a lifetime.

It will pursue you, it will haunt your steps, all your days. I know. I have seen it.

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23