Surprise!

My mother would be horrified if she knew this, but I was a snooper at Christmas time. I would hunt down the Christmas gifts that were wrapped and hidden in her closet and look for the ones marked with my name on them. Then, I would painstakingly pull back the tape, careful to not tear the paper and would then open the gift. Once I had inspected what was inside, I would then re-wrap it with no one ever knowing. On Christmas morning, I acted sufficiently surprised and no one was the wiser. I wish I could say that I grew out of it when I got older, but the truth is that the temptation still exists.
Why did I do this? I just couldn't wait!!! I think some of it was that I didn't want to be disappointed on Christmas, so if I knew what I was getting, then I would be prepared for what was coming that morning.
A couple of weeks ago I went the funeral of a dear aunt who died suddenly at 56 years old. So many people are asking why and questioning God. I found myself wondering about just what happens after death. I was trying to imagine what she was doing. Was she just worshipping at His feet? Was she watching the funeral? Was she still 'asleep'? What does it look like where she is? There are so many unknowns about what happens after this life and in death.
I started wondering why God left us in the dark about death and the afterlife. Why didn't he just spell it out so that we would know what we were going to experience? Wouldn't that take some of the fear of death away? Wouldn't we be more prepared if we knew what was going to happen?
And then the 'aha moment' happened. It's just like my desire to know what I was going to unwrap on Christmas morning. God has chosen wonderful gifts for us to unwrap. So wonderful he couldn't do it justice with words. He has kept it under wraps, hidden away, waiting for the big day when he gets to give it to us to open . He has left us some hints in his word, but we don't really get a peek until the day when it's our turn to open our gift. None of us know when that day is. Some get more warning than others, but it is sometimes as if he is a parent waiting to go wake up his child to come see what has been left for them under the Christmas tree. And then he unwraps it in a moment prepared just for that child. Can you imagine His delight in watching that child take in all of the glory of what he has prepared for them? I can see him throwing back his head in joy seeing his child gasp in awe of the beauty and glory of what they are taking in.
1 Cor. 2:9 says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him". Paul goes on to speak about this mystery of death in 1 Cor. 15:12-58. He ends it with, "Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
We cannot fathom the beauty and the riches of His glory. Our finite minds cannot even begin to dream of what it will be like. But let us all live in the truth that nothing that we do for Him here on earth will be in vain. I don't know exactly what my aunt is experiencing now, but I do know that she is not regretting one moment that she spent serving her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.