eternity

I have no idea where, but somewhere C.S. Lewis says, “Hell is when God gives you everything you want.” Today I was running and imagining the gloriousness of heaven. I thought about how I’d be free of this body and injuries would no longer be a factor in a heavenly body. So I could just run and run and run and run. Then a Dante-esque picture flashed through my mind—a picture of me running around a large track, all by myself, not knowing why I was running or where I was going. The real me had a birds-eye-view of this running me. The running me couldn’t see the end of this large circle and didn’t know where it had begun. There I was, perhaps in some level of hell, running by myself for all eternity. It was interesting because the running me didn’t realize I was in hell, but there was no purpose, and I couldn’t stop and it wouldn’t end. It was as if people didn’t matter, as if I’d never known anyone and never would know anyone or anything except running around this barren circle.  If I am obsessively running on earth, if I sow for myself running and that’s it, what if the Lord eventually gives me my greatest want, to run for eternity, never getting injured, never stopping? Maybe it’s time to check motives and praise God for the occasional injury.