Eternity

I have been thinking a lot about eternity this past week. My 12 year old cousin went to Heaven on Thursday night very unexpectedly. She was sick and then she was gone.

It is so easy to be flippant about life. I, myself, haven't really had anyone close to me die. All the people I know that have passed away recently have been elderly. It is so easy to become complacent and think...I have plenty of time to do everything that I need to do...Oh, I will be nicer to that person tomorrow...why do it today, tomorrow is coming soon enough. That wasn't the case, though, for one little girl, and only God knows if it is going to be the case for me.

It is so important to love well and without reserve now when we still have time. It is important to tell people that there is an eternity and that they are welcome to be a part of it. That is really the best love you can give. t is so hard to do, but so important to think about. We are blessed to know that there is one more little girl safe in Heaven who we will be able to see again someday. It is not always that way for people and I honestly don't know how they do it. How can people get through tragedy without God.

That brings me to another thing that I have been thinking. Why does tragedy happen? I have been thinking about that. It is so easy to say that God is in control, because that is the truth. I read somewhere recently someone's thoughts about this. The question was something like...If God is in control, then did He mean for this to happen? I don't think so. I think that this is a fallen world. God gave us the privilege of having free will from the beginning. Because of that privilege, sin came into the world and with sin came bad things like death. God didn't make this evil world, we brought ourselves into it by not obeying God. So, God didn't make my cousin die. He is love and love doesn't do things like that. The good thing, though, is that God can use that death for good. God can always overcome evil with good. It is amazing to think and a great thing to hope for when in the midst of a terrible situation. Praise God that He is that great.

As for me, I am glad there is eternity to hope for. God is good, even when there is bad in the world.

Addendum: I have no idea if my thoughts are theologically accurate...they are just my thoughts. Feel free to correct me :-)