"When is the last day?" {A story about being ready}

“When is the last day?”

Heidi was seated at the kitchen counter, flipping through our wall calendar.

“Last day? Last day of what, Sweetiegirl?”

“The last day. When Jesus comes! When we get to go to heaven. When is it?” She continued searching the calendar pages.

Oh babygirl.

“Good question. We don’t know when Jesus will return. But I hope it’s soon! It’ll be awesome when he comes right?”  She smiled and nodded, then she and Dutch began chattering about what heaven would be like. My mind drifted …  I love how anticipatory Heidi naturally was about Jesus’ return.  I love that she was perfectly content not knowing, but still eager. Am I like that? We have been part of churches with a wide spectrum of eschatological views and I chewed for a bit on how to encourage a grace-filled, loving approach to end-times ideas. I leaned into their conversation.

“Hey guys. Can I tell you a story?”

They lit up, of course. They love stories.

“There once was a little boy and a little girl. The boy was named Dutch and the girl was named Heidi. They LOVED playing with their Papa and always looked forward to having him visit.

One day, in the morning, Papa called and told Dutch and Heidi that he was coming to visit them that day. They were so excited! They jumped up and down and said, “Ok! And hung up the phone to hurry up and eat their breakfast and make their beds, to they’d be ready for him to come.

But they didn’t know what time he’d be coming. Heidi said they should go ahead and do their schoolwork and pick up their toys and get all their work accomplished before Papa got there. Dutch said no way. What’s the point of doing their schoolwork because Papa was going to show up any minute and they’d just go play with him for the rest of the day? There was no use doing schoolwork when Papa was going to come over!

Heidi disagreed. She thought Papa was probably going to come later, after rest time.

Dutch argued, No way! Dutch didn’t like rest time, so he thought surely Papa wouldn’t wait until after that. Papa would come before resttime because when Papa was here they didn’t have to take rests. Papa would save them from having to take a rest, by coming before and keeping them from it.

Heidi didn’t agree.

Heidi said because Papa loved them so much He would do what’s best for them, coming after their rest so they had to learn to be patient.  Dutch didn’t agree. He said Papa loved them so much there was no way He’d make them have to go through rest time. Papa knew that they didn’t like rest time, so Papa would show up and save them from having to do it.

Pretty soon things heated up. Heidi wouldn’t back down and neither would Dutch. Heidi was yelling about getting their schoolwork done, and Dutch was yelling at her to be quiet so that he could hear in case Papa’s truck pulled up. Finally Dutch got so mad he just left her alone and went to sit on the front porch, sulking all day, just waiting for Papa to show up. Eventually, he even fell asleep on the porch. Heidi, fed up, left him alone and did all the chores and responsibilities, frustrated and muttering and complaining about how lazy Dutch was. In fact, she was so fixated on her frustration toward Dutch, she completely forgot about Papa coming over.

When Papa arrived, his heart sank in disappointment. No one ran out to meet him. He had been hoping that his grandchildren were listening for him, eager to run out and greet him. He walked up the steps and found Dutch asleep on the porch. He walked inside and found Heidi, fuming, picking up toys and muttering to herself about how lazy her brother was.

Even though He was sad, Papa forgave them. He woke Dutch and interrupted Heidi, gathered them up into His lap, and gently told them this:

‘My precious grandchildren, I love you so much. I was so excited to see you. I’m sad that you were arguing over when I would show up. Dutch, I’m sad that you ignored all the work right in front of you, and just sat around waiting for me. Heidi, I’m sad that you forgot all about my visit because you were grumpily trying to do everyone’s work. Both of you, I’m sad that you weren’t here to run out and embrace me when I showed up. I wish you would have stayed busy with your chores and responsibilities, all the while keeping your ear out so you could hear my truck when I arrived.

Then, precious children, you would have been ready for me.'”

~

“And now the prize awaits me–the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

{Let us eagerly look forward to His appearing. Thanks for reading.}