I’ve long been drawn to the winsome promise of Ecclesiastes 3:3, “He makes all things beautiful in its time.” For most of my life that scripture has floated unmoored above reality like a cloud drifting in the wind. “In His time”… might indeed be a VERY long time.
Until recently – when my mental circuit board lit up with fresh understanding. Solomon’s declaration is a restatement of the ancient promise of the Kingdom: “The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the nations will beat their swords into plowshares, and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And all things will be made beautiful in His time.” Like springtime in Narnia, the promise of the Kingdom means that all things will blossom into beauty. Evil and ugliness will be composted into the topsoil of a glorious Kingdom of goodness and grace, and the sin soaked snow of Winter will melt into rivulets of mercy.
“…behold, I am making all things new” is spoken in the present tense, Right now, as you are reading this post, Jesus is at work fulfilling His promise: Eden restored, and “the summing up of all things in Christ, of things in the heavens and things on the earth.*”
The roads of America didn’t always look like this. It took Ladybird Johnson and the American Highway Beautification Act
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, Ladybird, launched the “National Beautification Project.” Litter was collected from the roadsides, trashy billboards were razed, and flowers were seeded in the median strips of highways across America. In time, the roadsides of our nation began to bloom with color and glory. That’s exactly what the Kingdom looks like. God makes ALL things beautiful in his time. And we have a part in it: We are God’s coworkers* – to plant flowers, show kindness, heal the sick, and create beautiful music, art, stories, homes, communities and gardens. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.*” Today is the time to labor with God for the beautification of all things.
Scripture references
Revelation 21:5
Ephesians 1:10
1 Corinthians 3:9
Genesis 2:15
