Forevermore-Pleasures

You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 NKJV

We welcomed the long holiday weekend with its blank calendar and no particular place to go; no demands or deadlines or distractions. Only time, a full gas tank, and an open road lay before us—a perfect weekend in our book.

Escaping the hectic pace we meandered along quiet country roads—some familiar, some not—soaking up every nook and cranny of God’s creation. Like a touch of heaven, beauty poured forth from every direction.

We bathed in radiant sunshine that warmed our winter-white skin as we drove beneath robin egg blue skies finding occasional relief from leafy green tree tunnels that arched high above our heads. We found red-barn farmlands that bragged of freshly plowed earth and sleepy neighborhoods with pristine gardens dotted in rainbow hues. We even hopped aboard a rural ferry to cross the river just for fun.

Compared to the serendipitous pleasures we enjoyed along the way, our destination seemed insignificant. For it’s through those experiences we catch a glimpse of heaven, isn’t it? It’s as though God’s foreshadowing what’s to come in the here and now; inexpressible pleasures on a simply perfect day that fill our lives with joy and peace and beauty.

We climbed aboard life’s merry-go-round two days ago and it started spinning, making it more difficult to see all God’s beauty.

This morning I spun past the dining room hutch towards my office—a hutch whose dishes tell stories of family history and journeys past. An English tea cup my daughter brought back from London caught my eye. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to drink my coffee from that cup?” (I know, it’s sacrilegious to drink coffee out of an English tea cup, but that’s not the point). I dismissed the thought mid-spin, but as I sat down in my writing chair, God whispered, “Enjoy a cup of coffee in that pretty tea cup! It’s a simple pleasure for a daughter of the King.”

Now, as weird as it might seem to you, sipping my coffee from that beautiful cup ushered me into God’s presence because I knew He offered me that pleasure from His heart. In the midst of my every day, my mundane, my pressures and deadlines, God offered me His personal thoughtfulness and love—a simple pleasure that gave me just a glimpse of all the forevermore pleasures He has in store for me.

Here’s how Sarah Young describes it: “Why would you want to follow a man-made path when My path of life is wide open before you? This path glows with My radiant Presence and it stretches all the way into eternity. As you persevere along this way with Me, I give you samples of forevermore-pleasures” (Jesus Lives, 2009 Thomas Nelson).

What forevermore-pleasures has God shown you lately? Has he whispered his approval on some frivolous pleasure that, like me, you would easily dismiss? God so wants to spend time with you. Take the time to enjoy His little glimpses of heaven throughout your journey today.

Living Beyond the Curse

 

"Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of the briers the myrtle will grow." Isaiah 55:13

Triple H Days - hazy, hot, humid - hung thick like stew for days. I camped out inside with the AC except for occasional runs from the cool car to the grocery store and back. It was even too hot for my Maine Coon cat who sprawled tummy-up on the kitchen floor in direct line of the artificial arctic blast, too hot to care about chasing mice in our neighbor's yard.

It was hard waiting for the promised cold front because here in New England weather changes every ten minutes (or so it seems), but when it finally arrived, we both welcomed it with all its loud booming and glorious lightning flashes accompanied by monsoon rains and lower humidity. Ahhh! Paradise.

But with relief came hard work. Every shrub and fruit bush showed burned leaves or shriveled fruit. Weeds grew taller than the day lilies, crab grass flourished,  and spider mites webbed their way through our ornamental spruce trees. Time for some low-to-the-ground calisthenics!

I worked for hours tugging, sweating, pulling out 60 gallons worth of weeds from my garden beds. And as each bag overflowed I thought about God's curse on the land found in Genesis 3:17-18 NIV:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field..."

After my four hour weeding frenzy my little piece of paradise was restored, but not without sweat equity dripping from every pour. I wanted to give Adam and Eve a little piece of my mind! I often wonder what it was like living in the Garden of Eden prior to the Fall, before God cursed the land, don't you? I imagine temped air, gorgeous blooms in rainbow colors and lush green foliage; gigantic shade trees, delicious fruit trees bursting with food, and wooded paths along a cool river where God and man met on a big flat rock at the end of every day.

My heart longs for Paradise lost, doesn't yours? The perfect place where order rules and all is right between earth and sky, man and beast and his Creator.

Jesus came, not only to restore man to the Creator-God, but to restore the whole earth as well. In Matthew 27 we read that the Roman soldiers crowned Jesus with thorns. An elder in my church recently pointed out that these thorns represented the curse of toil, weeds, and thistle. When Jesus' blood flowed over his thorny crown, it redeemed us from the curse of toiling - not from work - for work was good - given to us by God after Creation:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2:15 NIV

As followers of Jesus, we are Kingdom people - holding the glory and goodness of God within us. Therefore, everything and anything we do is sacred - done unto the Lord himself. As we make things "right", (whether we weed our gardens, change our baby's diaper, steady our aging parents, organize our office desk, smile at the postal clerk, whatever it is), we are agents of God's Kingdom through our actions and attitudes.

God calls us, through Jesus, to partner with Him to restore His Kingdom on earth (full of thorns and thistles) as it is in heaven (perfect order). We can't do it alone - not by the sweat of our brow or our limited resources - but through giving God all that we are and letting Him and His limitless resources flow through us.

Are we willing to live beyond the curse? Rather than toiling (grumbling) through our jobs, household tasks, or yard work, let's give thanks for God's provision - call forth His Kingdom in our bosses, our families, our bits of property - so that everything we have and do shines God's glory.

Planting Hope in a Cowboy's Heart {between Buffalo & Portland}

"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" Matthew 22:37-39

My grandfather died and I prepared for my first solo flight. Leaving my husband behind, I clutched my boarding pass, slipped into the middle seat between a balding, middle-aged businessman and a tall, retired Texan cowboy straddling the aisle seat and prepared for take-off.

Ninety minutes into the two hour flight, after reading the contents in the seat pocket, the Texan cowboy and I decided a conversation might be nice.  We exchanged pleasantries like where we're from and why we're headed to Portland. He confirmed, beyond the obvious pointed snakeskin boots and cowboy hat, his Texas origins. And then he asked, "What do you do?" I pulled out a business card, certain that when the Texan cowboy layed eyes on the title "youth pastor" he'd pull the reigns back and stop all conversation. But he didn't.

The pilot announced ten minutes to landing and the cowboy pulled and E. F. Hutton on me. You know, the question that focuses everyone's attention on your answer? (The 1980's commercial that said, "When E. F. Hutton talks, everybody listens.") Cowboy looked at my business card and asked, "So, you're a pastor. What is our purpose in this life anyway?"

People spend lifetimes searching the answer to that exact question and I had ten minutes to make a difference in Cowboy's life (and everyone else listening around us). I didn't have my Bible handy and I couldn't just throw Scripture at this guy so I simply said, "Our purpose is to love God with everything we are and love each other the same way, like Jesus taught us. He created us to live in community with him and one another and to love as he loves."

"That's it?" Cowboy challenged. With less than ten minutes to landing I replied, "Yes, that's it. It's that simple." 

And yet it's more. Oh, I don't mean a list of do's and don'ts or liturgies and sacraments. It's about knowing and being known by our Creator and grasping the height and depth of God's love. It's about Kingdom living - understanding God's Kingdom is here and now and at the same time, not yet - and understanding our place in it. It's all about carrying the hope of life to others - day by day - because of Christ's Resurrection Day victory.

Between Buffalo and Portland, on the way to bury the dead, God's resurrection hope planted life in the heart of one Texan cowboy. That's Kingdom living!