It was the trip of a lifetime. Early July. Freezing temperatures. Four layers of clothing. An aerial tram to the top of the mountain. And we had arrived – the most beautiful place ever!

 

Mt. Alyeska, Alaska. Breathtaking. I could not stop staring. The green was the greenest green I had ever seen. The waterway, Turnagain Arm, was the bluest blue, greenest green, and clear like crystal, all at the same time. Identifying where the snow peaked mountaintops stopped and clouds started was next to impossible to discern.

 

There were others on the mountaintop with us, but the silence was deafening as we all became immersed in the beauty around us. Each one of us had ridden the tram up the mountain that morning – and all seemed to be impacted in the same way – overcome by it – sensing that only God could have created something of such beauty.

 

I had been transplanted right into the middle of a place of serene beauty that I did not want to leave – and could not walk away from. What a feeling! I have always believed God can speak to us through nature – and that moment proved it.

 

I continued to stand there frozen – literally and figuratively. I remember thinking, “I do not want to leave here. This is one of those things I will never see again.”

 

Had I never been on Mt. Alyeska, I could not have felt it as deeply, or understood its beauty, because I would not have seen it. But once I saw it…the beauty of it stayed with me.

 

Things I will never see. That thought on the mountaintop stayed with me, and eventually formed into a question with some answers from God’s Word:

 

Things I Will Never See?

I will never see:

 

*Love fail – 1 Corinthians 13:8

*The righteous forsaken – Psalm 37:25

*My need not met – Philippians 4:19

*My call not answered – Jeremiah 33:3

*My sins remembered – Hebrews 10:17

*A lack of grace – Hebrews 4:16

*Death – John 8:51

 

Had I never been on mountaintop experiences in life with my Jesus, I could never have felt as deeply the power of these promises of things I will never see. I could never have understood the beauty of the promises of these things I will never see. Once I saw it – the things I would never see – the beauty of them stayed with me.

 

It is such a beautiful place to be – I never want to leave. What a feeling!

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that He has made everything beautiful in his time: he has set eternity in our hearts.

 

1 Corinthians 13:12 says that for now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then will I know even as also I am known.

 

We only have a glimpse of the beauty and joy that eternity will bring when we meet our Savior face to face. We may not have answers to all our questions, but we can be thankful for those things we will one day see – and for the things we will never see.

 

Ann is a speaker and teacher. Contact her at annfarabee@gmail.com or annfarabee.com