We project the lines of rejection we heard from our past on others and hold them accountable for words they never said. And worst of all, we catch ourselves wondering if God secretly agrees with those who hurt us.

We've survived what we feared. But can we survive the remembering? Memories are both our greatest treasures and our greatest sorrows.

Today's rejections, big or subtle, are like stealth bombs that zing straight to my core, locating hurts from my past and making them agonizingly present all over again.

In Heaven, it is always Autumn.

One question such events provoke is "What kind of God allows this to happen?" Another question we might ask is, "What kind of creatures are human beings that we should cause and allow this to happen?

Simone Weil was absolutely right- beauty and affliction are the only two things that can pierce our hearts. Because this is so true, we must have a measure of beauty in our lives proportionate to our affliction. No more. Much more. Is this not God's prescription for us? Just take a look around.

A veil removed, bringing freedom, transformation, glory. Do you see it? I am not making this up—though I have been accused of making the gospel better than it is. The charge is laughable. Could anyone be more generous than God? Could any of us come up with a story that beats the one God has come up with? All the stories that we tell borrow their power from the Great Story he is telling.

Lest we despair, God has given us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT) and to be specific, it includes the restoration of every precious day of our lives. Heaven is not a memory wipe. it is the time and capacity to truly relish the story of our lives, to see the hand of God in it all (how many times angels rescued you), to be vindicated, and even rewarded.

Jesus lived the way he did in this world, for this world, because his hope was set beyond this world; that is the secret of his life. "Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God" (Hebrews 12:2 THE MESSAGE).

Imagine—after your enemies are judged and banished, many great treasure chests are set before you. Jesus tells you to open them, saying, These are the gifts I meant for you in your former life but were stolen. I return them now, with interest. Imagine what fills those chests. Laughter comes from one, for so much of what has been lost are memories and joy.

Life is a desperate quest through dangerous country to a destination that is, beyond all your wildest hopes, indescribably good.

I left poor Scylla in a niche and fled. My fever'd parchings up, my scathing dread Met palsy half way: soon these limbs became 640 Gaunt, wither'd, sapless, feeble, cramp'd, and lame.