Wonderful and Overwhelming

 

In the 28th chapter of Genesis, Jacob has a dream and sees a stairway leading to heaven. He meets God and hears words about his life and future. Though it was good, it was beyond his experience and he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

For an old fat guy walking the pandemic away, this chalked instruction left over from Halloween brought this verse to mind. The word “CANDY” and big arrows pointing the way? That looks like the gate to heaven to me!

But it did cause me to ponder a bit on exactly what those things are that seem to bring heaven close to my world, so close that it can be both wonderful and overwhelming at the same time, just like Jacob and his rock-pillow fueled dream of a stairway that led to God.

Sometimes the unexpected beauty of the sunrise or sunset can spark such an experience for me. I am blessed by the reminder of the beauty of creation, but overwhelmed by the sense that the same God who created such beauty and called it “good” also knows me. To be caught up in a blessed memory that is so real that it holds all the sights and sounds and smells of a moment long past can be powerful both in the joy and the sense of loss it brings. Knowing that someone we love as completely as we are able feels the same toward us is wonderful, but also overwhelming in its power and claim on our life.

All these and more can be a “gate of heaven ”moment when that which feels, at times, far away and unreal comes so close we can touch it, or at least be touched by it. These moments change us, just as his moment began to change Jacob long ago. The question for us is whether we will be open to such encounters, whether we will embrace such dreams and experiences. Both sides of an experience, the wonderful and the overwhelming, are gifts from God if we let them be so for us.

Now where is that leftover Halloween candy?

Peace.