Over the years, I’ve posted many photographs of the mountains on our horizon here at Vanaprastha. Beautiful, indeed, but sometimes I struggle to find something good on the metaphorical horizon, especially during last week’s cloudy, flat, blah days of winter. Yup, self-pity with a touch of acedia. 

My blahs didn’t last long because on Thursday, a group email message from my first writing teacher shifted my attention. After several rounds of chemo, she has entered hospice, she said. Her request: “I would love it if, when you come across an interesting article or a poem you like, you could send it to me. Also anything that, to you, captures what you think happens to us after we pass away to that other world.”

Given what’s on her horizon—all of our horizons, which Alistair Begg wrote about so eloquently —I felt that nudge to answer with other than “you are in my thoughts and prayers.” By including my name on her group email, she had asked for more from me. Coincidently, God had been putting His answer on His horizon for me all week. Funny how that happens.

My former teacher’s daughter is an artist, so I knew she was aware of how the horizon line, at which the earth and sky appear to meet, is often shown in paintings. But I don’t know if she has a faith life, where horizon can also refer to the line between earthly life what comes next. 

Horizon: God’s boundary

He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. Job 26:10 NIV

In the beginning, God established the fundamental order of the world, including boundaries for the oceans and the cycle of day and night. He has ultimate authority over all creation. God’s ongoing governance of time and space shows His power and wisdom to bring order to the world.

In contrast, humans have very limited understanding of His creation. We are not in control. So, the marked-out horizon is also a boundary between God and us. God is God; we humans are not. And like Job, we are called to humility in the face of suffering, for God’s purposes are beyond our comprehension.

Horizon: God’s permanence

Their riches will not last, and their wealth will not endure. Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon. Job 15:29 NLT

Another horizon contrast is between God’s permanence and the impermanence of things. Wealth is temporary, prosperity and earthly riches fleeting. Only spiritual riches endure and spread across the horizon. The greater truth is that true security and prosperity, both spiritual in nature, are found in God. 

A side-note. We often think of suffering as something that is somehow deserved, as if suffering proves our wickedness. We must have done something wrong, and God’s punishment is a direct result. If we think this way, we are holding God to our standards of “fairness” instead of trusting Him to guide us through the tests of life, to rely on His wisdom and protection.

Horizon: God’s promise

God inhabits the earth’s horizon—its inhabitants are like locusts—stretches out the skies like a curtain and spreads it out like a tent for dwelling. Isaiah 40:22 CEB

I find great comfort in this verse—not so much the part about being compared to a locust, but the fact that God is with us and protects us. Stretching out the skies like a curtain spread out like a tent for dwelling. What a lovely image! That said, I must not forget that I am small, indeed, an insignificant grasshopper compared to God. And yet, I am still prone to willfulness and pride. 

I think about Alistair Begg’s powerful lesson, “The Man on the Middle Cross,” about the two thieves caught in a series of events, stripped of everything except free will. With death on their immediate horizon, they had the opportunity to turn their hearts to Jesus, the Son of Man, the Man on the middle cross. One thief chose to mock Jesus, to see the cross as proof that Jesus was no savior, to go along with the crowd. The other saw his own guilt and the innocence of Jesus. That thief asked to be remembered not for what he had done—for he was being justly punished—but because of who Jesus was: the Messiah. 

With all this in mind, I responded to my former teacher’s request. “Here is the link to an article published in the most recent issue of Common Good by D.J. Marotta titled “Remember,” which I found particularly moving, and Alistair Begg’s, “You Will Exit the Box,” his November 28, 2025 Devotional…

“As you probably know, my memoir Wisdom Builds Her House turned out to be a faith journey. Your gentle yet firm guidance as my first writing teacher encouraged me to keep going, even though I had no clue what I was writing about. Because I was living it and will continue to embrace this new mission until the end of my life on earth. Teachers rarely know the impact they have on others. Yours was profound, a blessing. 

“And now mine to you. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26”

By focusing on someone other than myself, my winter blahs ceased. God has a purpose for me and you—always. His omnipotence and omnipresence, visible and invisible, a constant reminder of present and future boundaries. His omniscient encourages us to press on in the work He has called us to do, especially as we draw closer to what we know is on our horizon: His promise. Salvation by grace through faith. We will be in paradise with the Man on the middle cross because He said we could come.

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