Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. – Revelation 21:1
Sometimes I think the Good News comes down to this: You are now free to live God’s dream on earth. Jesus outlined it in the Sermon on the Mount. What does a world look like where the meek are the role models? Where people who long for peace set foreign policy? Where people look out for their neighbors, and the definition of neighbor extends past geographical, racial, cultural, lifestyle lines?
Dreaming the dream is following the Dreamer.
We open our eyes and see people as he saw them. Each beloved, unique, treasured. Each connected to one another through the love and hopes of the Creator. Each a fellow traveler in a world of mystery and miracle.
We open our mouth and talk to them as he talked to them. Blessing. Guiding. Challenging. Comforting. Asking.
We open our hands and give to them as he gave to them. Food, water, shelter. Invitations to gather, share, celebrate. Time and attention without restriction.
Father Henri Nouwen, reflecting on eternal life, stressed that it’s not something that happens to us when we die. It’s something we experience right now. “The great mystery of the spiritual life—the life in God—is that we don’t have to wait for it as something that will happen later…It is the active presence of God at the center of my living—the movement of God’s Spirit within us—that gives us the eternal life.” (from You Are the Beloved)
When we make God’s dream our dream, and live like it, then we experience “the active presence of God.”
Maybe Jesus could have added a beatitude: “Blessed are those who live my Father’s dream.”
Read each Monday and starts a good week
Good thoughts.