Children of Heaven and Earth

Formed from the dust of this world, we are more than physical (Genesis 2:7). Our existence is more than natural. We are three-part beings consisting of spirit, soul and body. As many before us, we offer up our prayers from the stone and gravity of earth. The rocks cry out, these ancient alters lying always before, and beneath us. We are Eden’s sons, and finite beings. Our suits of flesh reach out toward the infinite.

Creation itself groans, enslaved by corruption (Romans 8:22). Just as God’s Spirit once hovered over the face of the deep, He continues to hover over our darkness, yearning to create in us His perfect reflection (Genesis 1:2). We are beautiful creatures, made lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7). These carbon hearts seek, hope and question all the days that we have breath. Unless we love, we live and die in vain.

We are broken and fallen, each of us. Our Father still waits with radical grace just as His son stretched out his arms on that old, rugged cross. Time itself was divided in half, and the universe trembled. The rage of our humanity reaches to the skies, the same skies that separate us from the stars that shine over us as celestial torches. This is the land of our sojourn, our temporary home, our terrestrial domain.

Endued with life by the breath of the Creator, we have the spark of God. His image defines us, His love changes us. We reach out to the invisible, seeking more than we can see, and desiring life that transcends our lives. The journey of this life propels us, and God has set eternity in the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We are spirit and flesh. We are the children of heaven, and the children of earth.

(This was originally published in April, 2011 on The Examiner.com website.)