A paraplegic can have a rich full life. There may be some things that are always out of reach, and often their lifespans are shorter than other peoples, but a triumphant spirit can learn to work around many things. And the number of days often has little to do with the amount of life in them.

However, if you were a paraplegic or are one, and a doctor came and said, “It will take two years. There will be several surgeries and a fair bit of pain, followed by rigorous physical therapy, but after that you will have full use of your limbs and your life expectancy will be 10, maybe 20 years longer.” Would you do it? Would you have it done for your child?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

A lot of people get set in their ways, and tie a lot of their identity to certain labels and social groups within our society. The idea of all that shifting and changing can be frightening. Trusting this new doctor, opening an old hope that has stopped aching. What if he’s wrong and it doesn’t work? And surgery is risky. What if he makes things worse?

However as a parent, I would certainly ask a lot of questions, and want some idea of the risks involved, but it would be hard to put my hope on hold, when the prospect of giving my children every experience and opportunity is on the table.

A lot of people ask why God allows so much pain in the world, but I think that when God said, “Let us make man in Our image.” He wasn’t talking about cute little paper cut-outs of Polaroid photos of Himself. Jesus said, “I Am the Vine, you are the branches.” We are made to be an extension of Him, a vessel of the same kind of life that He is, and through His Spirit to produce life, not just consume it. I will probably do another blog about Producers and Consumers. There is a lot to say there about those fundamental roles. But here I want to focus on our creation mandate: “Be fruitful, and multiply, rule over the earth and subdue it.”

To be fruitful is to be a producer, to be filled with the sort of spirit and nature that creates, that adds to what is. You can interpret this as babies, but I don’t think it has to mean only that. This is half of our mandate, and we share it in part with all other living creatures on the earth. I say in part, because they fulfill it only in the most literal sense of having offspring, while we fulfill it in many creative ways.

The other part of our mandate is to “rule the earth, and subdue it.” In an early blog, I hinted at the idea that God always intended for Eve to have wisdom, or rather Wisdom. He promises to give us wisdom if we ask. He promises that He is happy to give His Spirit to those who ask. Eve took a shortcut to wisdom, that proved to be a dead end. And we see now that the consequence of that is that mankind dominates the earth, but has neither ruled it, nor subdued it truly.

God IS making Mankind in His image. It has taken several surgeries, and much Spiritual therapy, and the work is not finished yet, but making someone who is a divine, immortal being with the wisdom to rule planets? Well, it’s a big dream!

Do I believe that God is making me into a god like Himself, and that I will rule a planet when I die? No, that’s ridiculous! “He is mindful that we are but dust.” What I am is one neuron in the mind of the Companion that He has made for Himself, and for His only Son. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is comprised of all the people who have said, “OK, Doc. I’m in. Make of me what You will.” 

What about you? Does a few short years (umm, decades) of pain and/or sacrifice seem worth an eternity of beauty, grace, wisdom and love?