Earth’s Glories Pass Away
Earth’s joys grow dim,
Its glories pass away.
I was walking along thinking about the quest for physical perfection. Physical perfection might be too highfalutin’ a term. I mean people trying to lose weight, put on some muscle, clean up their diet and so on. What I was thinking is that a lot of people fail. Losing weight is hard. They get injured and cannot lift weights for awhile. Or they have a surgery or get depressed. Or they get old. I know a man in wonderful physical shape who developed dementia and withered away.
So when you set out to better yourself physically you are setting out to a goal you cannot guarantee you will reach. But some people do, the goal is at least possible, and that makes the effort itself worthwhile and in a technical sense glorious.
In fact, I mused, that’s true of any kind of glory. If you were guaranteed to succeed it wouldn’t be glory. No risk of failure, no glory. But if success is impossible, its just vainglory. There needs to be some chance of success. At least one person you can point to who set out on the path and made it.
Ahem, the Spirit whispered. Jesus Christ.
Bookslinger
July 21, 2021
There is “joy in the journey”, as has been said often before. It may be a physical journey, as in travelling, or a journey of effort, as in sports or self-improvement.
When joy is accompanied by the Spirit, I would say that is a form of glory.
Glorious outpourings of the Spirit are an “earnest” (down payment) of glory to come, according to Paul.
I think there is something glorious in the sports accomplishments in this video: (hat tip to behindtheblack.com) https://youtu.be/3E-bSvr3hN8
Annie
July 21, 2021
Books, your comment, and the original post, reminds me of the line from Chariots of Fire, spoken by the protaganist, Eric Liddell; “When I run I feel God’s pleasure.” I feel pretty certain that God feels pleasure when He witnesses his children developing their talents, using the gifts He gave them to full, righteous advantage. And I think we feel a whisper (or sometimes a shout!) of His pleasure when we succeed in that way. I like thinking of it as Glory; His, and ours.
G.
July 22, 2021
Books, Annie, I really appreciate your insights.