An Unfinished Masterpiece

"Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God" (Rev 3:2 NIV) An on-line friend paraphrased this scripture: You are a masterpiece waiting to be finished. Webster's defines masterpiece as: a work done with extraordinary skill.

At the end of time, when our lives are about to end, we will no doubt look back and remember all the things we did and didn't do, that we "should" or "shouldn't" have done. In movies, when a person passes away they show their lives flashing before their eyes. If your life were to flash before your eyes this morning, what would you see?

Certainly we all have regrets--some profound. There are bound to be many happy memories as well (if we are fortunate). I take this scripture to be an admonition on how to live our lives in the time we have remaining.  We waste time and energy if we dwell on our grief, our losses, our regrets. Rather, we should grow from those experiences--and remember that God brought us through them. We are strenghtened and our resiliency and faith are increased once we move from the past to looking toward tomorrow.

My friend reminds us that we are created in God's image and likeness - e.g., masterpieces. God went to a lot effort to create us and he doesn't want to miss out on the opportunity to spend eternity with us! As this is the case, we really have no choice but to relish the time we have, to make the most of the days, the people, the situations that come into our lives.  God loves us so very much and He even sends a warning: Wake up! He beseeches us, to wake up from the slumber of our mere humanity and begin living into the masterpieces He created us to be.

"[The Day Is Near] And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11 NIV).

Blessings on your journey,  
Mary

When All The Earth Has Passed Away

Do not grieve for your past sorrow
Do not remain in today
Do not rely upon tomorrow
Because the earth will one day pass away

When all the earth has passed away
When no more songs are left to sing
When no more words are still to say
When death has lost its piercing sting

Do not grieve for your past sorrow
Do not remain in today
Do not rely upon tomorrow
Because the earth will one day pass away

When time stands still and heaven alone remains
When I kneel before His glorious throne
And God declares His shining glory still reigns
Heaven will become my forever home

Do not grieve for your past sorrow
Do not remain in today
Do no rely upon tomorrow
Because the earth will one day pass away


I wrote this poem recently. I don't remember exactly what precipitated it.  I do know that many of my family and friends have had to deal with some hard experiences lately.

As I reread these words this morning I think they sound both wistful and hopeful.  At least that's my state of mind this morning!  Life is hard. It's all too easy to get caught up in the struggle and the stress--not only of the "big" stuff, but also the day-to-day annoyances and issues.

We can lose our perspective that God is in heaven and one day we will join Him there. So what are we really complaining about? Yes, life can be hard--brutally so. It can be a challenge just to get out of bed some mornings, and to fall asleep at night. I get pretty caught up in that endless cycle--until I remember God is in heaven and one day we will join Him there!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8 NIV)


Blessings on your journey,
Mary

The Throne in Heaven

Continuing to think about my friends' loss of their child.

On the way to work this morning I pondered how beautifully glorious the weather/sky was yesterday in Richmond. And I had to shake my head because I wondered, "how could the same God who made such majesty and absolute beauty to behold also take the life of this child?"

I know there is a much bigger picture here - so many children dying, many being killed . . . those parents, those relatives, those friends all grieve for them too. Last night my husband reminded me that we just don't understand death. We don't know what's on the other side. I told him I knew heaven was so wonderful that it was selfish to want to deny anyone that experience. But I grieve for those who are left behind - for whom, at least for a while, that truth is not enough to heal a broken heart.

I recently read, "Heaven is for Real" and it forever changed my view of the afterlife. It's about a young boy who died - for only a few moments before he was revived on the operating table - who relates to his parents over the following several months some of his experiences there - meeting relatives he had never known, seeing Jesus and the angels; describing how wonderful it was there. One line that has really stuck with me, to which I cling, and I share in a feeble attempt to offer some small shred of comfort and peace to anyone who has lost a loved one.

The child's father is a pastor and he had accompanied his dad to visit a hospice patient. The woman was only hours away from dying and she was fretting a bit. The author said his son reached out, put his little hand on the woman's shoulder and whispered to her, "Don't worry, Jesus is the first person you're going to meet."

I have so many questions to ask when I get to heaven. So many things I just don't understand and could never possibly grasp. I add to my list of questions almost daily! But I realize that when I get there, all my questions will go away - all will be right in my soul. At the foot of the throne, there will be no more worries, no concerns, no problems will remain -- only all-encompassing love and peace. It is beyond comprehension. But then, everything about God is!

"After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne" (Revelation 4:1-3).

Blessings on your journey,
Mary

WORD-FILLED WEDNESDAY

I'm joining AmyDeane again this week for Word-filled Wednesday. Stop by The 160 Acre Woods to see the words others have to share.

The Power of Prayer in a Time of Spiritual Warfare

I am almost spent this evening but I didn’t want to let the opportunity for some powerful testimony to slip by. Earlier in the week I was asked to preach at an area church. That is one of the joys and responsibilities I agreed to accept when I became a Certified Lay Speaker through the United Methodist Church.

I was quite excited as I had not delivered a sermon in some time and my Sunday School “team teacher” was very pleased for me and said he didn’t mind taking on my week to teach on Sunday. I didn’t really mind his taking the lesson as it was one that had never really resonated with me. I had never understood it and really never had or took the opportunity to study it in more detail. Well . . . guess which scripture was in the Lectionary (the suggested scripture readings for each Sunday of the year) for this Sunday? OK, that’s a rhetorical question.

I clearly got the message that God intended me to glean some of His wisdom from this parable: The Parable of the Wise and Foolish bridesmaids. If you’re not that familiar with it, perhaps it is for the same reasons I was not.

I set about diligently and with great intention reading as much as I could find on this parable, including commentary by some noted Jewish experts. I was pretty fired up and developed an outline by midweek, as well as what the central theme would be.

Then on Thursday night I got sick. I mean, laying on the floor of the shower stall on and off for 12-15 hours sick. Then I fell into some type of semi-conscious state throughout all of Friday. I hallucinated, fought off bouts of nausea and diarrhea and could not even keep water in. Thursday night as I lay on the floor of the shower I prayed – like I have never prayed before that God would heal me. He alone sustained me throughout Friday, but in the end He was, of course, victorious!

It was not about my personal well-being that I was praying but rather about the words He had revealed to me. He clearly wanted me to learn what he taught me and he just as clearly wanted me to say whatever it was He planned for me to say on Sunday. Because of the short notice of the need for someone to fill the pulpit, I understood that it would probably be impossible to find a substitute for me. And I knew with all my being that someone in that church on Sunday needed to hear what He gave me to say.

Saturday morning. . . I am weak and tired and very, very sore but healed. I was able to eat toast and drink hot tea. And I’ve been working on the sermon all day. I have been planning to meet a friend this evening for a couple of hours so we could talk about her website and make some plans about a project we will collaborate on. That, of course, was cast by the wayside – more because I didn’t want to take a chance of her passing along whatever I had to her young children – or herself! Also, though ,I knew I would be spent.

We talked on the phone for a few minutes and we agreed that I had been engaged in some type of spiritual warfare. I have been struggling with some issues in the spiritual realm for a while but have felt lately that I was overcoming them with God’s help. I imagine when Satan was unable to conquer me on a spiritual level, he resorted to the physical realm. I am absolutely certain that Satan did not want me exposed to that scripture, and especially did not want words of encouragement, hope and warning to fall on the ears of those who needed to hear it. My friend asked if she could pray over me and what a beautiful, powerful prayer it was!

After her prayer I was able to pull the sermon together and still have time to relax for a few hours before bed.

What was the message? This parable tells us that we need not be afraid in a world so full of fear and uncertainty. Rather we are to rejoice! We are to celebrate! We are to feast! Christ is coming! Nothing else in this world or of this world matters! We wait with bated breath, with deep longing and with unspeakable awe the coming of the bridegroom! And we are to be ready when the bridegroom comes -- don't wait until the last minute! Be ready!

Revelation 22:7 [ Jesus Is Coming ] "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.

Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.