2 posts tagged “reign of god”

I've just returned from my first session at Trinity Wall Street's Clergy Leadership Project.  Here is a profound story I learned about the reign of God as told by the staff and Chaplains of CLP:

The Chambered Nautilus

The nautilus is a living fossil whose close relatives date back hundreds of millions of years into geologic history.  There are a few things we know about the life of the nautilus that invite us to think about our own lives.  These animals live of course in their shell, but unlike other shelled sea animals they only live in a portion of the shell--one chamber at a time. The next chamber is constantly under construction.  Each previous chamber is necessary for the animal to "swim" through the currents of the sea. Amazingly, each chamber is seven percent bigger than the chamber before it.  When the animal grows the seven percent, it moves into the next chamber and starts preparing for the next move by building still another chamber.  To move through the seas the animal releases gas into its previous homes (chambers) and that adds buoyancy that makes navigation possible. The building of the next chamber never ceases until the animal dies.  These animals would seem to have perfected the balance between what has been and what will be.

Now, here's the rub for me...this story speaks to me about the reign of God.  It would seem to me that like the nautilus, nothing, neither in our lives nor anything else in the reign of God is wasted.  The "old chambers" of our lives are being used by God for buoyancy and navigation. Our old ways of being are not just left behind, but rather, are simply the "old shell" which God uses in our growth. Our whole lives are redeemed, and nothing is wasted in the reign of God. Good news, indeed.

Yours for the reign of God,

Ron