Immutable

The Alpha and The Omega

ELLIE SHUERT

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God, “ who is and who

was and who is to come, the Almighty ”

— Revelation 1:8

Iam a children ’ s chapter book with pitifully short chapters that

don

’t have all that much to say really how do I fit into Your eternity? Time is the only language I understand for the moment trusting a finite alphabet to speak all wisdom to me if only I read more I hate that I seem to trust convention yet rub my eyes at miracles but You use befores and afters too so why can ’t I understand I count seconds into minutes as high as I can go and still I can ’t find a stretch of time where I matter just on my own I write past commas as if they give me more time than I' m allotted and more words than I’ m allowed to fill spaces where I should be breathing I need more time less breaks but it’ s futile trying to quantify my existence wouldn ’t I have found some success by now if it were possible maybe more time isn ’t the answer I feel like I’ m already going as fast as I am able God— give me a greater history than the one time writes for me… For You are the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, needing no cause to exist in and of Yourself and the one towards which and through which all history will be resolved. You are Creator and Master over time, omniscient over past, present, and future. At these words I can slow down and contemplate eternity because to You it’ s not a mystery, because an ending is not rushing toward me, just the ending of sin and pain and death. You are my beginning and ending, a neverending epilogue to a short life on this earth. I glory in the knowledge that from You came this patience, bestowed upon me like a gift or a crown, through You I am royalty, and to You I offer up every overflowing, impounding thought because I will never surprise or overwhelm You. Every path points back to You like spokes on a wheel. All creation sings Your praises like birdsong, and that’ s a better tune than anything I could write for myself, even with all the time in the world. Your eternity makes You God, and as Your child, that makes me something too.