NEVERTHELESS
Friday was my granddaughter Rachel's wedding. After days of non-stop craziness and
finishing up at the very last minute, everything turned out beautiful. Five vases of wispy greens (intermingled
among white candles and tiny white string lights) meandered down each of the thirty-five
long black-clad tables set up for both wedding and reception. An arbor covered with white tulle and graced
by five elegant lanterns stood as sentinel on the stage over the lifetime vows
of two awesome people committed to loving the Lord with all their hearts while
spending a lifetime together doing the work of the Kingdom. Everything progressed wonderfully, and, at
the end of the night, generously considerate guests choosing to join in cleanup shortened what would have been an
all-night job to a few hours. And the
wedding day was over... well thought out by my precious granddaughter and new
son-in-law, and well executed.
However... (there's always a "however",
eventually, to all of life here before Christ returns...) the next morning I
was feeling kind of down, thinking (of all things) how my outfit for the
wedding compared quite unfavorably to all of the other elegant ones flitting
about the room. It was actually an old
dress and jacket resurrected from a daughter's long-ago wedding (!!) - because
hours of shopping had not produced an acceptable outfit, and time simply ran
out.
But God... in His
great love and patience with me... took
me that morning to Psalm 73:21-28 [Amplified]. For my
heart was grieved, embittered, and in a state of ferment... Wow, He hit it right-on! So foolish,
stupid, and brutish was I, and ignorant.
I was like a beast before You. And
now we're talking about the reality of what we not only WERE but, really, still
ARE, compared to our Lord, so consistently gentle and considerate with us.
NEVERTHELESS... I am continually with You. You do hold my right hand. Always, through every kind of day, our Best
Friend not only walks with us, but actually holds our hand - intimate,
personal relationship. You will guide me with Your counsel.. Oh, what a blessing, to be guided by
the Ancient of Days, each minute, in each problem situation, in each bit of
life - if we but ask; the reality of who we really
are beneath all the cover-up does not stop His forever-love! And afterward You
receive me to honor and glory. No
matter that we are foolish, stupid, brutish,
ignorant, decades out of style, so broken in so many ways ... He lays
honor on our head.
Whom have I in heaven but
You? I have no delight or desire on
earth beside You. That is where our
Lord wants us - where everything else pales and falls flat beside our
relationship with Him and with Who He is!
All else eventually "blows away in the wind," for what seems good and desirable is here
today and gone - in a moment - EXCEPT THE LOVER OF OUR SOULS! My flesh and my
heart may fail (our bodies don't look or act the way they used to), but GOD IS the
Rock and Firm Strength of my heart and my portion... FOREVER! No one else's opinions, nothing,
really matters - only our Lord. And He
will never fail us. We will let people down. Others will let us down. But He will never fail us. It is good for me
to draw near to God; I have put my trust
in the Lord God, and made HIM my refuge (not in "what people
think of us", what we can do, our financial security, our health, the
success of a surgery or business, our accomplishments, the achievement of our
goals), that I may tell of all Your works. As we fellowship with Him each day,
listen to Him, and lay our trust in Him for that day and what the future holds,
we are then able to glorify Him with that specific day.
Lord, place our focus
on trusting You and Your way for our lives, on loving You with all our heart,
mind, and soul. In those times or seasons
or even lifetimes, of tough, tough days, may we nevertheless glorify You as we do the work You've laid out for each
of us... until, as Your bride, we see You face to face - the Lover of our Souls
Who laid down Your life to dress us in the wedding gown of Your Own righteousness.
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