God's Superbloom

 

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:50-56 ESV).

 

To refresh you memory a bit a superbloom is a rare botanical phenomenon in which an unusually high proportion of wildflowers whose seeds have lain dormant in the soil germinate and blossom at roughly the same time. The phenomenon is associated with an unusually wet rainy season. When Kyle and I were driving to Arlington last Sunday morning I remarked that the “superbloom” was spectacular this year. In fact, Mary and I were riding around a bit and we mused that we had never seen it so beautiful as it has been this year.

 

It brought to my mind how God does things in His time. All the conditions were right this year for the superbloom to occur. The temperature, rainfall, and wild plantings were perfect for the blooms to burst into the blankets of blooms covering acres of land. The result was an incredible display of the creative genius and power of God.

 

It also brought to mind another “superbloom” that has yet to occur. In our reading we see the Apostle Paul’s description of what we know theologically as the resurrection of the dead. Imagine all the various locations where our bodies are placed after death suddenly bursting open with the rising of individuals with a new, eternal body. All of those who have waited for just the right time to be reunited with their bodies will come to be in “the twinkling of an eye.” Those that remain alive will simply join them, receiving their new bodies as well. The flowers we see today will not compare to that sight. This is the way of the God we serve!