I'm Halfway There

That's me sitting there.

Only figuratively, unfortunately. Some may recognize that granite outcropping as Half Dome, in Yosemite National Park. I've never been there literally, though some day I may. Figuratively, though, it's a good picture of where I am.

You see, I'm sitting on a half dome of my life.

Statistically, half of my years are gone. Yet, by those same statistics, I still have half my life before me. Half empty, or half full? Over the hill, or still climbing?

I like to think I'm halfway there.

Where is there?

To say I am halfway is to say that I have an endgame in mind, and indeed I do. Heaven. That's my endgame. When the final whistle blows, that's where I'm headed, and I can't wait! I plan to do my best right to the very end, but when the curtain closes on this life, I'll leave this stage with a smile on my face.  

There is where I want to be.

I don't want to die. I really hope and pray that Jesus comes and takes us all before my mortal life comes to an end. I'm not in a mid-life crisis. I'm not depressed. I'm excited, because I can see the end coming closer.

My day may come tomorrow.

I may be much closer to there than I think--not one of us knows when the Lord will return or when our time will come. I--we--could go home tomorrow, and that would be fine with me. My home isn't here. I am an alien, a sojourner in a foreign land. I am where I belong, but only for now. This is not, thank God, my forever home. That is a place far distant, and though I know not what to expect, I know it'll be better than any of us can imagine.

That day, that final call, can come any time. Not because I am unhappy. Not because I don't like the life I have. Rather, because this life is so good, and the promise is that the next will be infinitely better. Who, having experienced good, does not look forward to better? Who, having been happy, does not look forward to being ecstatic?

I look forward to trading the good of here, for the perfect of there. If God calls me home tomorrow, I will rejoice. If He calls us all, so much the better!

This isn't morose, dark, or gloomy.

This is joy! This is looking forward to the promises God has given us. There is where we are supposed to look for our future, our hope, our joy. Here is temporary; there is eternal. Here is flawed; there is perfect. Here I am broken; there I will be perfect.

How can that be anything but joyful? How can we not yearn for what we have been promised?  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling . . . (2 Corinthians 5:1, 2).  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)

This attitude of mine is not fatalistic nor pessimistic. It is Biblical. It is the attitude that Paul says, in Philippians 3:15, we should all have. We should all be looking heavenward, not with fear and trepidation, but joy and anticipation.

So it is that I say I am halfway there.

Not in remorse, but joy. It is a reminder, an encouragement, a goal set before me so that I can finish this race. Yes, I am only halfway there; and yet, I am halfway there!

It is only with that attitude, not clinging to this life as if it is all we have to hope for, that we can truly say, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Only then can we live this life for what it truly is.