Edge of Eternity

This morning I read from Psalms 95:1-2 which says,

“O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”

In light of Copeland’s miraculous birth yesterday, I am singing these words with all my heart. For those who have not checked the Farley’s webpage, I will give you a quick update. Copeland was born yesterday at 1pm breathing on her own! She is 4lbs and 17 inches, and she is going to be eating with feeding tubes for now. Praise Jesus!

For Nathan and me, this time surrounding Copeland’s birth has brought the reality of our situation a little closer to home. Poppy’s birth has seemed so distant up until now that it has been hard to think through the concrete realities surrounding it. However, as we have thought and prayed for the Farley’s, we have run a million scenarios through our minds and tried to literally imagine ourselves 10 weeks down the road when we also will be in the same spot. To be honest, it is quite daunting right now. I know that God will carry us when we get there, and seeing His faithfulness in the lives of the Farley’s yesterday is a beautiful confirmation of this to me. Yet, the unknowns are so stark. Right now I feel like I am in this constant tug-of-war between feeling so confident that God is in control and has a purpose in all of this that is mighty and amazing, and at the same time, feeling the insecurity of simply not knowing what will happen. The questions that poured through my mind yesterday never ended and they won’t have any answers until the time actually comes.

As I was thinking about all of this, a phrase came to my mind that I hadn’t thought about in years. When I was in high school, my grandfather preached a sermon series entitled “The Edge of Eternity” about living in the end times. His point was that Jesus might return at any moment, and so we as Christians are literally walking on the edge of eternity since at any second, we might suddenly find ourselves with our Savior. He was encouraging the body of Christ not to live in such a way as to assume that things must happen before Jesus can come. Instead, we ought to be living with the reality that any moment could be the one He comes, so we ought to be eagerly waiting and anticipating His return.

I know that the connection between the second coming of Jesus and Poppy’s life might seem a bit hard to follow, but yesterday when those words “the edge of eternity” entered my brain, I felt the full impact barrel into me. Every day, from today until December 10 and beyond, this is the “edge” we’ll be walking with Poppy. No moments are promised, and each one could be the last, but that doesn’t mean we live in fear as we anticipate the future! As this statement relates to Christians, it meant that we are to live in complete awareness so that we do not become lazy or apathetic to the world around us. I think the same is true for us in a sense. We need to be in a state of constant awareness of the fact that each moment of Poppy’s life is in God’s hands. Just as God knows the second Jesus will return, He also knows the timeline He has for Poppy on this earth. Not knowing is still hard, but I pray that you will join with me in remaining vigilant to lift her up to Jesus over the next 10 weeks and beyond, trusting Him to keep her until His perfect timing has come to take her home.