I planted a new-to-me perennial in my garden last year, which bloomed for the first time this spring. Rows of tiny, delicate white flowers arched along drooping branches. I gazed in amazement at the aptly named blossom with heart shaped petals that burst open and bled out from the bottom. Even the bleeding heart declares the glory of God.
Can’t you sense the groaning of the bleeding heart? Disease, death, loneliness, wars, broken families and relationships—hearts break and bleed wherever we look. Sin did all of this. Since the Fall, creation has been “subject to futility”, and in “bondage to corruption”. As a result, it groans. And so do we.
There must be something better than all this. Yes? Our hearts know it. We’re born expecting promises to be kept but we don’t journey very far in this life before the unfulfilled oath of another breaks our hearts. We yearn for wrongs to be righted, for peace to be restored, and for goodness that will last.
Even in all the hurt, there is hope—a hint of something better. For if there is no hope, how could a flower that represents brokenness be so, so beautiful? There is something better in a place called heaven. You’ve heard of it, but are you aware of its glories?
Scripture gives us a glimpse of what’s to come with these words, “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away………and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore…..” Rev. 21:1-4
Oh, how I long for that glorious day! Don’t you? It seems far away from our present reality so how can we get there and experience this hope? The bridge from here to there is Jesus, the promised Messiah who came gentle and lowly.
He bled upon a cross; his heart broken as he cried out, ”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
With his last breath he promised, “It is finished!”; the price for our sin now paid in full. Forgiveness is freely offered to all who would repent and believe this good news. For those who are willing, restoration is found and brokenness healed.
Heaven is a promise kept because Jesus bled and died. I’m certain the gardens of heaven will not contain delicate blossoms shaped as bleeding hearts stretched along bended branches. The reminder won’t be necessary.
I wrote this piece during a writing class I took recently. If you’re a budding Christian writer with words bursting to come forth onto the page, I’d encourage you to check this class out. Kristin is a wise and engaging teacher who points students to Scripture. I came away from the class with practical tools for improving my writing, a deeper understanding of the Lord’s call to write, and the high responsibility that accompanies it. The next offering of Write the Truth, Beautifully is coming up in September.
The Light for My Path 