Today is a day when many of us remember where we were 14 years ago. 9-11 is etched into our collective memories in a way that very few days in our lives are. I remember getting to work around 9:10 that morning – about 10 minutes later than I was supposed to, and meeting my boss in the parking lot. He looked unhappy, and I thought I was in trouble. But as I got out of my car, he said, “A plane has hit the world trade center. Let’s go watch the news.” Moments after I walked into his office, we learned that another plane had flown into the second tower, and we soon knew there was an attack on our soil. Not long after, we learned of the fate of two other planes – one that attacked the Pentagon and the other that crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania.
In the days and weeks that followed, we saw this nation come together in powerful ways. Families gathered in various churches and houses of worship trying to make sense of their lives and seeking that which is eternal. Though it wasn’t long before many left churches again and went back to their lives as “normal,” what was on display in the actions of “seeking” by many after 9-11 was the echo of eternity that has been knit into the hearts of humanity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says this: He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
So often when we are faced with the why questions of life’s seasons and circumstances, the evidence of eternity in our hearts will lead us to seek out that which is eternal – that which we cannot see nor understand. But, if we look anywhere except to the Creator who has caused eternity to meet the temporal in the person of Jesus, we often find ourselves frustrated that we cannot answer the whys of life, and we simply return to the daily reality of life under the sun. May God give us grace to look at the eternal Christ, who alone gives us hope in the times and seasons of life.