the point

Well, it’s the end of 2017. A lot happened this year. Some really big things - my son changed careers, we got a new CEO at work, one of the plants I oversee was doubled in size. A major project I worked on the past 18 months is more or less complete. There were smaller things too - birthdays and anniversaries, vacations, illnesses. Relationships broke up, fights happened. Happiness and sadness.

Here, at the end of it, I feel a lot like I did last year, like I always do. I take a brief pause to reflect, but then I start planning for the next year. I set goals. I look at events. I get ready to keep going.
And there’s always a time somewhere in the process where it all seems kind of pointless. Decades of plans and goals and work accomplished or left undone has gotten me to a comfortable financial point, but in all the parts of life that matter, it can seem I’m on a treadmill.

As I wonder about the point of it all, I read again some of the most familiar verses in the entire Bible, in Revelation 21:1-4: “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

That’s what I’m headed toward! That’s the destination, the goal of this journey here on earth. Someday, I’ll live in that new earth and God will be right there with us. The ultimate relationship, mine with God, will be fixed. Life will literally be perfect!

I think in 2017 I made some good movement down the road toward heaven. I think in some noticeable ways I’m a more holy person than a year ago. Becoming more like Jesus has been a key part of my planning for 2018. Because that’s really the point.