A new earth

Isaiah 65:17  For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
2 Peter 3:13  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

I've reflected this Lenten season on Jesus being the plot twist to the story that our worldly minds couldn't grasp.  When you reach the middle of the book and find that the real story was reading every tenth word, and in another language.

But what amazed me this morning was the beautiful, glorious picture of holiness and love in the new earth that awaits us.  I've been discussing a book about heaven with my small group, but I've often forgotten that heaven is not the end of the story, either.  This creation in front of us is good in so many ways, and Christ has redeemed it.  It is only a matter of time when we get to experience creation as God intended it.

I'm reading The Connected Child, and interspersed with the valuable strategies for parenting children who have suffered loss and trauma are short little profiles of these children.  A child who was never fed enough in the orphanage.  A toddler that experienced chaos and violence at a young age that may never remember it in a way that he can articulate, but it is wired into his brain.  A baby that had nothing to stare at but a white ceiling, learning that no one comes when she cries.

Oh come, Lord Jesus.

No more loneliness.
No more violence.
No more abuse.
No more hunger.
No more addiction.
No more generational poverty.
No more mental illness.
No more fear.
No more death.

And as we wait, we wait on our good and loving Lord, who already has the victory.