The first time I saw the ocean, that day when I was hit with the full impact of sounds and scents and gusts of wind for which I had only been partially prepared, I knew I'd had no way beforehand of picturing the scene spread out in three dimensions before me. The constant roll of waves, that overpowering ROAR, the feel of feet being sucked down into wet sand. Even though I'd dreamed of it and actually in some way loved it, there was no way I could have envisioned the totality of it all.
Everything I'd imagined about the sea was true. The only shock was in discovering how much MORE there was to it. The three-dimensionality of it. The engagement of senses I'd never thought would be called into service.
Sometimes I compare my love of the sea to love of God. Never having seen Him, I love Him. I have true ideas of Him, and through His grace I can actually know Him. Yet there is no way I can know Him in His fullness until I see Him face to face. I cannot even envision such Totality, and I suspect such vision would overwhelm a human still in the flesh.
Will there be, in eternity, sounds beyond anything we've ever heard here? Colors not detectable to eyes of flesh? A thousand dimensions spread before us, in every taste and shade, in every tone and depth, in every texture of Love.... ?
"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)
