It Is Inevitable

I have to charge my laptop battery yet again.
That’s the way it is with technology.
It has a shelf life.
It has a certain amount of time before it loses power.

It is the same with my phone.
How I love to see the battery icon filled with green.
How I dread to see the battery icon filled with red especially when I am away from a power cord.
What was supposed to make our life easier, comes with its limitations.

I go out to weed my garden.
I pull every little speck of green I can find that is not supposed to be there.
When I go outside later in the day, another speck of green has popped up.
The mulch bed that was weed free just a few hours ago, has weeds again.

I dust my furniture.
Everything looks clean and dust free.
The next day when I sit to read a book, I can see dust on the bookshelves I just cleaned.
Even when I remove any cobwebs in the high ceilings, I will see another one in the sunlight.

It seems that most of our tasks are endless.
It seems like we never get ahead.
When the kitchen floor is clean, someone will walk through with grass clippings on their shoes.
When the dishwasher is running, someone will come to the kitchen with a dirty coffee mug.

It is almost laughable.

My son sent a family text that showed his odometer at 100,000 miles.
I told him that I always miss it.
When my odometer is ready to turn to the nearest number followed by zeros, I forget to check.
I will always catch it when it is an annoying 5 or 10 miles past the number I wanted to see.

An appliance will break right after the warranty expires.
In the middle of a recipe, I notice that I do not have that one ingredient I thought I had.
When I want my nails to be lovely for an occasion, one of them breaks the day before the event.
It is inevitable.

Inevitable is defined as, certain to happen; unavoidable.
Instead of throwing our hands up in the air in defeat, we can find the humor in the situation.
Instead of getting angry, we can laugh at the precision of the timing.
We can always laugh.

A gust of wind lifted my umbrella from its base and shattered my glass top table.
It happened years ago, but it happened one week before a big picnic.
I missed my eighth grade pool party and picnic because I had wanted to get a bit of a tan.
My Irish skin does not tan and instead I got a horrible sunburn that kept me home.

Newly married, I wanted to impress my husband with my culinary skills.
I remember the night he was just about to come through the door.
I had prepared homemade dressing for our salad in a decorative cruet.
As I shook the ingredients, the lid was not on tight and salad dressing splashed everywhere.

Inevitable.
Certain to happen.
Unavoidable.
Humorous, if you allow yourself to laugh.

It is the coupon that ended the day before you went shopping.
It is the store that closed ten minutes before you reached the door.
It is the restaurant that double booked your reservation time and cannot accommodate you.
It is the grocery bag that breaks in the parking lot and sends your groceries flying.

It is Murphy’s Law.
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
That is life.
That is the fallen nature of the world we live in.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:19-25)

All creation is groaning.
It is inevitable.
All creation is frustrated.
All creation is in bondage.

That is not always be the way it will be.
We have hope.
We have hope in redemption.
We have hope in what we do not yet have, but hope for which we patiently wait.

We eagerly anticipate an inevitable event.
It is an event that will end all history as we know it.
It is an event that will usher in the New Jerusalem.
What a sight that will be!

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:2-4)

It is inevitable.
Jesus is coming back.
When He comes back, all the frustration will be gone.
When He comes back, all the chains of bondage will be loosed.

Our hope will be realized.
Our eager expectation will be fulfilled.
Our glorious freedom will be celebrated.
Our groaning will become loud shouts of praise.

Amen.
The old order of things will pass away.
It is inevitable.
Come, Lord Jesus.