life as a pointer

I was reminded when reading recently (from N.T. Wright) how our experience in the here and now, points to a fulfillment that is to come. A grand fulfillment, in the kingdom of God in Jesus.

Life is more than a pointer. And the kingdom of God in Jesus has come, to begin its work in the world. For us who are of that kingdom, we begin now, to taste of the goodness yet to come. Though really, all do receive something of the goodness of God, even in a fallen, yet to be redeemed world.

A love relationship, or relationships we have with friends, point to something more. Even the best of love relationships have their trying times. And all must come to an end in this life. Which makes this especially bitter as well as sweet (I remember C.S. Lewis' intense grief over Joy's parting).

We may not really get the point of some, and even a good number of experiences we have in this world. But if we are patient, and try to see the big picture, and not just the puzzling details in the picture, we can at least see that there is something more. There is a hand and a heart, that is wanting to draw us into a goodness, love and world that we will, in the end, recognize as the fulfillment. A Story in which there are many new beginnings and wonderful endings. For ever, and ever. C.S. Lewis says it so much better:

And as [Aslan] spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

from The Last Battle of The Chronicles of Narnia.