After I left home for college, whenever I would go back to visit my mom would try to give me clothing that had been left from my high-school days.  Of course, the further away we got from high school the worse the clothing fit and the more outdated it was.  And yet I bet when she sold her house last year there were at least a few items she would have liked to give to me.

Sometimes I think that we mistakenly believe that re-creation is about getting back to some former self -- more youthful, more innocent.  Even at funerals I have heard people say, "I picture her like she was in her teens."   But the truth is that the transformed body is not a replica of the former one, but rather so much better. 

If we conceive of creation as something that happened in the past when God created the heavens and the earth, then getting back to the original state would be good. 

But when we understand creation as the ongoing work of the Trinity, then we look forward to something new and better.

I write this because summer is at hand and we all need some recreation.  But it is not just to get back to some former self, a little less weary and a little less stressed.  It is to jump-start what God is always doing in you, making a new creation in God's image.

We are stewards of these bodies and these lives.  They are the way that God works in the world.  Yes God works through us.  And works on us.  The 1960 or even the 2004 model will not suffice.  So if God needs to take us apart a little this summer to bring out the new model in the fall, so be it.  We will be the stronger for it.

So go enjoy the recreation and the re-creation that is always happening in you knowing that you are a part of God loving and eternal plan.

Lord, Bless the lives that we have been given and make us new for your service.  Amen