Last week, I attended a reunion of some of my closest friends from college.  We met at a summer home one of us owns (it has been in her family for nearly a century) on the coast of Maine.  It was a lovely setting:  ocean waves crashing across the granite coastline, spruce and cedar trees rustling in the wind, sun and clouds sweeping across the sky.  Being together was wonderful, leaving us with memories we will not soon forget.

    When I got home, I sent out an email to everyone who came.  In addition to expressing my gratitude for everyone being in my life and how humbled and privileged their friendship through all these years has made me, I spoke about the final lines of Psalm 90.

    These lines read, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and give permanence to the work of our hands; yes, give permanence to the work of our hands.”

    Everyone in this group, I said, has enjoyed many blessings of this existence.  We've all had happy marriages, been able to engage in meaningful work, lived in reasonably pleasant places and, in many small and large ways, have been privileged to contribute to the greater good.

    That's the point.  In a meaningful world, a world that did not emerge randomly or by accident, what we--and, by the way, everyone on this planet--do has meaning.  Profound meaning.  Because God is there, the works of our hands, whatever and however they are and however they may add to the common good, will, in ways that we will likely never fully see, indeed enjoy permanence, a beautiful permanence which will, as long as this earth lasts, endure.

     Even in a finite world, eternality reigns.

    Talk to you late next week.  Thanks for reading!