Sunday, November 9
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the
children of God.
—Romans 8:19
Creation, on the other hand, tells a different
story. In his letter to
the church in Rome, Paul writes that creation waits
with "eager longing for the revealing of the children of
God." Creation can hardly wait to see who we are going to be. It
isn't quite sure if we will turn out to be infused with joy—our lives filled
with harmony—or if we will be ungrateful for the chance to savor life. It is
waiting and eager to see who we will be.
When J. B. Phillips translated the New Testament, he caught the spirit of this line in a remarkable way. " All creation is on tiptoe waiting to see the sons and daughters of God come into their own," he wrote. The phrase is full of curiosity.
When I was a teacher, I came to value curiosity. If I was sure that the good students would be good, and the slow students would be slow, and I knew the material would elicit only certain responses, teaching lost its luster.
But when I wondered what new angle the struggling student might shed on a line from Shakespeare, or how the adept student might surpass my expectations, the classroom came to life as we waited with "eager longing" to see what we could learn and how it would be put to use.
There are times in life we all
say, "Yes, this is who I have been."If
our assessment ends
there, we miss the chance to discover who we will be.
It is thrilling to realize that creation itself is waiting on tiptoe to see who we will be when we come to maturity as the children of God. In this waiting, and in this discovery we are not alone.
Gracious God, spark within us the gift of curiosity that we too will eagerly anticipate the person you call us to be.
