The other morning I got up a little after 4 AM and made coffee. As I was pouring the coffee, my groggy eyes idly watched the steam rise up from my cup. A fragment of a Bible verse came to mind, our spirit returns to God. Though I knew this, it hit me right at that moment. When we die, our spirit returns to God.

Few people find joy in the thought of dying. Normally I don’t either. But the image of steam rising from my coffee cup made a point that words never had. For some reason, the steam made the return of my spirit to God real to me.

I felt good because I finally understood the joy in this verse.

‘the spirit returns to god’

Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 NIV

That thought, that certainty of returning to my Father, filled me with quiet joy. No matter where I am when I die–no matter how far I’ve traveled, no matter what I’m doing–my spirit shall return to God who gave it to me in the first place.

God granted us life

God granted us life and our spirit in the first place. When our life ends, our spirit returns to God. Full circle. God grants us life and then when our time comes, our spirit returns to Him.

In that early morning moment, I had an insight into the mind of God. My insight was incomplete, but I also knew that more would be revealed someday when I am face to face with God.

‘we shall see god Face to face’

Someday we shall all be changed. Some day completeness will come and we shall see God face to face… 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears… 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:8, 10, 12 NIV

In this fallen world, we can know God, but only in part. Only as much as our minds can stretch and creak and groan under the strain of trying to comprehend our Creator. One day we shall know God fully, face to face, even as He already knows us fully.

Our spirit on this Earth exists for a time and then it rises upward, just like the steam from my coffee cup.