When eternity began

I received a beautiful ecard from home on Friday morning. I was a little taken aback when the first thing the card read was “Happy Birthday, Leeann!” for I knew it was neither my real birthday, or even my half-birthday. But then I remembered, March 3 was the day of my re-birth, and this year marked a full fifteen years since my confession of Christ. My ever-thoughtful parents are always faithful to commemorate this, probably because they have a very vivid memory of the event, perhaps even more than I do simply due to my young age.

Hypercalvinists will cry foul, I’m sure, but I think there is something significant and memorable about that day. We don’t really make a big deal of it in the church – at least I’ve never met anyone else who has – and its curious to me that we don’t. Isn’t it a cause for celebration and thanksgiving? Or must the most significant thing that could ever happen to us supposed relegated to only the most private recesses of our hearts? We celebrate what God has done collectively, Christmas, Easter, Lord’s supper, and while there are certainly personal times of reflection involved with all of the above, we don’t usually talk about God working in us as an individual at those times, with the notable exception of the latter, and then its done silently.

It’s not a matter of celebrating what a great choice I made. No, it has to do with God’s amazing love and condescension in redeeming sinners like me. There is something significant about that moment of recognition and repentance. Isn’t there?

I guess from the perspective of being “chosen from the foundations of the world,” eternity for the believer began a long time ago. Eternity is outside of our time – but doesn’t it include time? The last fifteen years certainly cannot be compared with what is to come. But by the same token, there is a juncture at which one crosses over from death to life. So can I say my eternity began fifteen years and two days ago? Eternity will not be measured in years, but while I am bound to time, isn’t it at least a benchmark along the way?

I guess in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter when my eternity began. I’ll probably look back on these thoughts from the Heavenlies and laugh. Just a rant on this Sunday afternoon, before I scoot off to a member’s meeting… which I hope won’t take, well, an eternity.