Seeing the other side

Then the Lord replied:
“Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”  –Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NIV)
 
I saw an image that stirred my imagination this week. It was a picture of a full-circle rainbow, reportedly taken from an airplane flying at 30,000 feet. All rainbows are circular, though it is somewhat rare to see a complete one due to our line of sight usually being broken by the horizon.
 
I was intrigued by the idea of getting glimpses of beauty while we can only imagine what the full picture must look like. How often do we have opportunity to speak a kind word, offer a kind gesture, take a little time or go to a little trouble, wondering whether such a small thing might actually make any lasting difference?
 
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.  –James 5:7-8 (NIV)
 
I heard from a sweet sister in Christ recently. She asked about my dad and recalled a time, more than fifty years ago, when she was a young mother of two. She was a Christ-follower; her husband was not. The family had recently moved into town and had one vehicle, which the husband used to get to and from work. It was important to her for the kids to be “in church” as we used to say.
 
Hearing of their situation, my parents offered to pick them up for rides to Sunday school and worship. Over time, the husband became curious about these people who kept stopping by his house to take his family to church each week. He was taught the gospel and came to know Christ. This summer, Tom and Julia will celebrate 60 years of marriage, surrounded by friends and family who’ve been blessed by their faithfulness to Christ and to one other.
 
The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”  –Revelation 22:6 (NIV)
 
We don’t always get to see the other side of the rainbow. But a Day is coming. Whether or not we see it in this life, I’m convinced that any effort to demonstrate the love of Christ is never wasted. The older I get, the more I’m looking forward to re-connecting with the people who made a difference in my life and learning of the people whose lives I touched for the better, perhaps without even knowing.
 
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  –1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (NIV)