Curse

I long for the day when distance and time become irrelevant and can no longer serve as obstacles to relationship. Don't you? Our lives only allow so much; our resources are limited. I don't even mean by being poor, although, of course, lack of finances obviously factors in. But even if money were not an object. . . . EVEN if you take distance out of the equation and everyone that you ever wanted to have a relationship with lived within a block of your home. . . .even then, there is a limit to the amount of time that we have to invest. So, with enough TIME, it would finally be possible to cultivate friendships with everyone you wanted. With the cousins you grew up with but never see anymore, with the lonely aunt in the nursing home who craves visitors, with the extended family that you love to be with when you see them once every 10 years, with the dear friends who moved cross country. With enough time, the distance wouldn't matter because there would be no negative consequences of a 3-day roadtrip. You could travel anywhere because there would always be enough time to finish your errands and do your job and lavish attention on your family. And delve into relationships. To really go there, with all of them. To not have to choose who will be a best friend and who will be a good friend and who will be just an acquaintance. To not have to choose which family members you'll really know and which you'll just visit with on holidays. To really be available and invested and a deep and intricate part of each other's stories.

At the end of the day, time--or the lack of it--is the enemy. Limited time forces us to make choices; to value one relationship over another and prioritize how we spend our energy. It is part of our curse.

That is what is precious about the concept of eternity: limitless relationship. After all, no one finds eternity appealing in and of itself. If you had to spend eternity in solitary confinement, there would be no "heaven" in that. It's what eternity allows that is so desirable to us--no more goodbyes. We were not designed for farewells. Even after millennia of practice, it still rubs us the wrong way.

And so I long for that release. I long for the day when I no longer have to assess which relationships merit more attention than others. I long for the day when thoughts like, "I really wish I had the chance to know her better", are no longer a silly pipe dream, but are instead a prelude to yet another amazing friendship. I long for escape from the bondage of time.

Come, Lord Jesus.