It was forty-five minutes until the end of my scripture/nature show. Maybe that’s why it was significant.
Without a second thought I blurted out, “My life!”
I thought again… “When I die I’m going to heaven where I’ll spend an eternity with you… I guess forty-five minutes wouldn’t be a biggie next to that.”
I thought again and realized what that would mean… spending forty-five minutes with God in heaven yes, but coming away from that! If I wasn’t leaving my life on earth, I would constantly be dreaming of heaven for the rest of my life! I couldn’t handle it! I would lose hope!
“Without staying, I wouldn’t want forty-five temporary minutes in heaven with You. Besides, it’s hard enough waiting for what I do not see. If I had already experienced it, I wouldn’t have that perseverance.” Then I told God, “But! Ask me what I’d give up for a lifetime with You!”
“My heart.”
“I think I would just like people to know you’re approachable and interested in every forty-five minutes we spend with you.”
“Okay LORD, I will!” There definitely was a peace with that thought…. a peace so palpable that it could split the night… worries and anxiety drifted away under the grace from the light from the eyes of the God who sees:
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El Roi. |
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As the night closed in fast, I thought about how His words gave life, and how I would have missed them entirely if I had done something else before bed. How many times has God been there waiting… In the secret, in the quiet place, on the off-ramp of the crazy traffic congestion of day to day living. There are so many distractions that I must always deliberately focus on not only what I am doing, but on what I am thinking. It’s not enough to do good, we must do it because we want to. It’s not enough to rest, we must do it from a godly perspective. We must wait upon the LORD. – Isa 40:31 (NKJV)
Some like the TV on. I like music playing. Some like to read a novel. I like to play a video game. Some like to exercise. I like to eat. Some like to clean. I like “projects” (God, you’ve clearly blessed my wife with patience during these times.)
But no matter how good or bad in our eyes, in our spouse’s eyes, or in the world’s eyes, any activity can become a distraction if our relationship with the LORD takes a back seat. So I now have to ask this question, that I must first pose to myself and then to you, gentle reader…
