Saturday, February 4, 2012

A New Shade Of Red

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world for the first time? Or here's one I think about a lot: maybe I'm weird and maybe it's just me, but how cool would it be to hear the English language and not be able to understand it? I've often wondered what it would sound like, to be able to hear the sounds, the intonations, the rhythm of the language free of all intelligible meaning. I listen to other languages and try to imagine what English must sound like to the non-English speaker. Or imagine what it would be like to see the color red for the very first time, or touch a flower petal for the first time. I have experienced each of these things in my lifetime, but unfortunately I was a baby and have no recollection of these firsts. I kind of wonder if that's what Heaven will be like. This world is broken, it is fallen, it is but a dull reflection of what it was meant to be. And amazing as this world presently is, apparently in the end it is going to get a whole lot better. If you've ever been anywhere tropical, you'll know that colors there are not the same as they are in America. It's as if the equator has magnetized the pigmentation of plants to concentrate in the tropics. They just have better reds than we do. But in Heaven, I hope, I bet, when I see red for the first time, it will be as if I've never seen it before in my life. When I touch the ground for the first time, it will be a sensation the likes of which I have never experienced. And when I see God's face for the first first time, I will know that I never really knew Him in this life. I sought Him, I communed with Him, I worshipped Him, I served Him, but this God--the true God--when I see Him face to face, it will really be the first time.

And then I probably won't care about that English stuff anymore.