Timberley and I bought our first digital camera shortly before we moved to Indonesia in 2003. Anna was nearing her 4th birthday. Sam had just turned 6. For those of you who have crossed the great divide from the analog to digital world, you know that in reminiscing, it is very easy to think that life began with digital pictures.
But of course, there was an analog life before everything became cloud-based. Yesterday Timberley opened one of the boxes that has traveled around the world with us several times, but has seldom if ever been opened. In it, we found envelopes and albums full of photographs. We spent the next several hours looking at our life before Indonesia. We had baby pictures of Sam, baby pictures of Anna, a wonderful album given to us by the good people at San Bruno Chinese Church, another album filled with Timberley’s memories of her time in the Middle East. We had a great afternoon full of laughter.
Today is Anna’s 21st birthday. Timberley and I were thinking this morning about a 21 year old Anna. She would be close to finishing her dual college degrees of marine biology and art, so she could draw pictures of fish. She would likely be engaged to a young man with a certain name since she seemed to have a soft spot for boys with that name. (I’m keeping the name private in case one of those young men is reading this now.)
But in the end, whatever good thing we could think of for Anna’s hypothetical future paled in comparison to what God had planned for her. She could have been drawing pictures of fish, but now she is enjoying the creator of the fish. She could have been engaged to some young man, but now she is preparing for a far greater wedding feast. In fact, all of our best plans for Anna do not compare to the unsurpassed goodness of God’s riches stored up for her.
And so it is for us. During times like these, with the Coronavirus taking its toll around the world, we can begin reflecting on things that are important to us. We can consider the importance of family, our home life, the other relationships that are important to us. And it is right that we should be thinking of such things. But the best life that we can imagine is really just a pale shadow of the incomparable riches God has stored up for those who believe and trust in his son, Jesus. May we all do our best during this time to remember those things that will most give our lives meaning while we are here. And then may we realize the greater good that we cannot imagine that is waiting for us.
Happy 21st birthday, Anna! You are still missed and loved.
Anna Resurget 