Have you ever wondered if there is a story—an exciting adventure for example—where there was no trouble? No one writes the “happily ever after” part of the story because what’s there to tell? What good story doesn’t have a bad problem for a hero to face? Isn’t that odd that our good stories must have something bad? We never think of problems in real life as an opportunity, yet without the problem would there even be a hero?
One energy sapping afternoon that had been filled with dread and high adrenaline, I began to ponder if I would be so soul tired if I were motivated by joy instead of fear? My thoughts turned to eternity in Heaven and considered how joy might be what sustains us for eternity. Much like Bilbo, after having unnaturally long life, who can fathom living in eternity without turning into
“too little butter spread over too much bread?”
Fear in the moment of real danger saves us, but over time fear cripples us with weakness. Fear is necessary in a world with peril. Joy, however, strengthens us when we are weak. In eternity we will no longer have a mortal body that survives through fear and adrenaline response. Could our eternal strength be joy—powerful, pure, perfect joy?
When my son was about two he tripped, as toddlers do. I waited for the inevitable cry, but instead he laughed. As we walked on he clearly was trying to repeat the experience. He began to look for better ways to experience that feeling again by jumping off things.
Everything.
All the time.
He wanted to scare himself. Joy radiates from him and he bounds with energy and sunshine. Is this the foolishness of a child or does this show something of the faith of a child?
I grew up in a home averse to risk. Then I grew up and met risk takers—people who get out of bed because life is full of risk and a little bit of hope. I think I am raising one those people. When I think of peril, I think a bit of my son jumping. But instead of jumping off the deck, its like jumping off a cliff. It is ultimate risk and danger hanging in the balance and there is this moment where you have no idea what will happen that second your feet leave the ground.
As small kids my best friend and I had this theological debate. I said, “If we fell off a cliff in Heaven, we wouldn’t get hurt.” And she would always inform me, “There are no cliffs in Heaven.” She was afraid of heights, so I suppose in her mind horrible cliffs could not possibly be there.
Sometimes I think we look at Heaven like a place where nothing will really happen.
Not something to really look forward to.
A happy place but not motivating.
If you told my little boy he could jump but there wouldn’t be any risk, he might find it a little boring. Maybe he would like it at first but after a while he would look for something else dangerous.
Maybe something in the childhood debate about cliffs makes me ask, “Could eternity be like peril?” Not that it IS perilous, certainly not in a terrible way because Heaven is a place with no tears or pain. Peril would no longer be bad because of the joy strengthening us. Could even peril be redeemed?
Could eternity be a bit like the joy in an adventure story? However, not like any adventure we ever read about because we haven’t read an adventure story without a problem to overcome. Could it be a story of The Happily Ever After, authored by the Hero himself? If so it would not be our best story, it would be a perfect one.
Copyright J. A. Goggans 2018
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