He has also set eternity in the hearts of men...

SaltSister has a remarkable post which I really do encourage you to click over and read in its entirety. I can't resist, however, posting just a couple of snippets here.

She frames her post with that wonderful passage from Ecclesiastes, which is so much better in the NIV translation: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Eccl. 3:11, NIV)

She says:

For the Christian believer, the thought of someone we care for missing God represents the loss of all eternity. I have often wondered how can there be a point to enjoying God forever when eternity has been lost? Who can get their mind around such a thing?

"When they crucified Jesus, they crucified eternity."

Now where did that thought come from, I wondered? I never considered it before. God is eternal. Could there even be an "eternity" without Him? No, there could not be. In an instant I realized that all of eternity was wrapped in Christ while the Roman soldiers nailed His humanity to the Cross...

Suddenly, I knew the answer was in there. I’ve known a few people who died without seeing their prayers answered for lost family members, yet those prayers were answered after their departure. I wondered just how far can God really come from behind. What we see is a far cry from what He sees. There is a judgment, though what it entails has not yet been revealed. I am beginning to think that whatever comes, it will not diminish what God has bought through the Cross of Christ. It was an eternity-for-eternity trade. Eternity crucified, eternity resurrected - fully beyond our imagination of both the good we hope will come and the evil we fear...

Do go and read the whole thing for yourself. This is as pure and profound a God-given, contemplative insight as I've read for a long time. Go, SaltSister! To God be the glory...