Classical operas were like movies for the people back in the 1600s through the 1800s. Even today, operas or musicals can be quite popular. They are not just music, but music with a storyline, with characters and plotlines. Most operas have overtures before the story part starts. It sets the mood and tone, and prepares the audience for what is to come.
I mentioned before playing the prelude for weddings. I’ve also played many preludes for church services. Preludes are like short overtures, and they still set the tone for what is to come. If people are quiet enough to listen, that is. It’s a bit of a standing joke among church pianists that people never listen to preludes. It can be a good introduction for a new pianist to play a prelude, since with all the talking going on in the background, they don’t have to feel so nervous. If you really want your prelude to be heard, you may have to have someone make an announcement first, so the congregation thinks the service is about to start and they sit down and quiet down. Then, you surprise them by having the prelude next.
What if I said that our lives here on Earth are really just like a prelude? Life is just a preparation for what is to come. The analogy is not perfect, as preludes do not generally have danger and suspense and plot twists like our lives sometimes do. But compared to what is to come – eternity – our lives here on Earth really are pretty short. There is so much more to come after our earthly lives!
What does this have to do with trust? We can trust that our lives don’t end here. We can trust that if we see evil triumphing, if we see loose ends never being tied off, if we feel like we are missing out on what want out of life – we can trust that evil will lose, loose ends will be finished, and we will experience more than we could ever imagine when our eternal life begins in heaven with God. We’re just getting started!
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1