My Golden Garden

Come with me back to our youth. Limitless promise grew in a golden garden. Elysian fields beckoned from an endless horizon. Life was in full bloom. We could pick from the ripe grapes of fame, fortune, achievement, and earthly pleasures. There was no end.

Now return with me to the present. The years have passed. The grapes have withered, and the horizon is at hand.  We’ve picked many fruits. All the vanities and conceits of past days are gone. There’s nothing of earthly value left to impress others . “Best in the room”, wealth, importance, beauty, vitality, reputation, affirmation, accomplishments, connections – none of these count anymore. Of what earthly and lasting value are our cherished but suspect range of vanities and conceits? Have we made choices for the good, choices designed to achieve God’s end? Where is our reward? A bit late now for an earthly reward. There is only one other alternative: our reward awaits in eternity.