The Best Is Yet To Come

Have you ever played the game slide? Maybe you called it something different.. but it’s a hand game I used to play all the time with my sisters. You know, the game where you clap and high five with your right hands, clap and high five with your left hands, clap and do a double handed high five with the back of your hands followed by the front of your hands and repeat. Every time you repeat you add one to the number of high fives you do.

One, one, one. One, two, one, two, one two. One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, and so on until someone makes a mistake. 

Well, this past week we got to stay at a children’s home with 12 kids (talk about World Race dream ministry come true!). The first day there I taught some of the kids this game. Instead of playing it until someone made a mistake, we would just play to whatever number the kids wanted to. Sometimes starting with one and going up to ten, sometimes starting with ten and being done after one round of 10. One day, a child came up to me with hands ready to play and said “Ninety-nine.” 

What? Really? Can he even count to 99???

I said alright and we started clapping and high fiving. Turns out he could count to 99. I was impressed considering he was pretty young and English is not his first language. 

By the third round of counting to 99, my brain wasn’t focused anymore on what I was doing. I was thinking about counting. What’s the highest number I can count to? What’s the highest number I have counted to? I knew I could count pretty dang high, even though I’ve never actually counted past maybe 200. I usually get bored and just stop before then. Yet, I knew I could count higher….How?

Because I know the pattern for counting in English and it’s the same pattern that continues to infinity.  

The kid who impressed me with his counting also knew the pattern, and I was glad he only said 99 instead of 299 since I now knew he could count as high as he wanted.

While playing the game and thinking about the pattern of counting, I was reminded of God’s goodness. I realized that while I haven’t yet experienced the best of God’s goodness, I know that it’s coming. I know this because of God’s pattern. 

His pattern is a pattern of goodness. 

In the Old Testament we see a God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. Over and over and over again. Throughout the Bible we see a story of a God who loves his creation and has a plan to redeem them fully. 

The Bible essentially tells us that the best is yet to come and I genuinely believe that. 1 Corinthians 2:9 (and Isaiah 64:4) tells us that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” Revelation 21 paints a picture of the new heavens and new earth where there will be no mourning or death. 

I have already experienced God’s goodness and I know that I will experience more and more. I know that the best is yet to come because God’s pattern is one of goodness that keeps on getting better. Just like with counting, I know the pattern and if I wanted to I could just keep on counting higher and higher and higher. If I look at God’s goodness I will see more and more and more and one day every tear will be wiped from my eye, and from yours too. 

Just keep looking for his goodness and letting it get better and better. 

Blessings, 

Kaci