So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live. In Your name I will lift up my hands. (Verses 2 - 4)
I just attended the funeral of a dear friend's husband. The sanctuary was filled with people who love them both. At the front of the church was a small shrine with her husband, John's, picture and ultimately, the teak wood box containing his ashes. John wasn't there any more. His memory, however, was palpable and his character clear by all the people who came to honor his life. The clear message of the service was the hope this wonderful man had because he had surrendered his life to Christ. Cutting through the enormous pain of those who are left was the wonder of where their beloved is right now. This very minute. Breathing crisp, pure heavenly air and looking with awe at the face of his Savior. Better than life. This life.
Sometimes when I take a walk down the beach, I can't imagine life being more amazing than it is in that moment. Playing with grandsons, eating with my own kids, sipping wine and talking about the day with Bill on the porch in the late evening, watching dolphins rolling playfully in the ocean, sharing stories with my friends, or seeing the sun splash its majesty across the skies right before it decides to retire for the night are grand to me. They are life at its most profound. What could be better than this! My thought when I am so close to what is best in my world.
What I thought at the funeral today is this: All of the things I treasure in my life are so good because He makes them better than they should be. God's love, steadfast and immutable, is wrapped around all the beauty and relationships in my life. Because He loves me, I am secure. In this life and in the next. Right now I can only see the glory of Christ imperfectly -- look at His glory and power through a clouded lens. One day I will look into His perfect face with perfect clarity and know, beyond doubt, that God's love is better than anything in this life. That is why experiencing my Father here makes that transition natural. Traveling from one home to the next. From glory to glory.
So I was reminded today about the fact that all must die. We don't finagle our way out of it. It is going to be our fate if we got here in the first place. I know there are some who believe we are just dust to dust with nothing more after this life. Some believe we go on to become something or someone else. Others believe in some vague "by-n-by." But for those of us who know what it means to have seen God in His sanctuary performing on our behalf what only He can do through His power and for His glory, we are not afraid or confused. Because the Father we know here in this world is only a breath away preparing a place for us that this earth only vaguely replicates. All of our praising here on earth is tinny and small compared to the symphonies and choirs of saints and angels whose lips ever bless our Christ there. Life here can be so sweet. Infused with the goodness of God. So I will bless Him as long as I live with hands lifted up to His throne knowing that, sweeter yet, is life ever after with Him.
They will see His face.......Revelation 22:4
I just attended the funeral of a dear friend's husband. The sanctuary was filled with people who love them both. At the front of the church was a small shrine with her husband, John's, picture and ultimately, the teak wood box containing his ashes. John wasn't there any more. His memory, however, was palpable and his character clear by all the people who came to honor his life. The clear message of the service was the hope this wonderful man had because he had surrendered his life to Christ. Cutting through the enormous pain of those who are left was the wonder of where their beloved is right now. This very minute. Breathing crisp, pure heavenly air and looking with awe at the face of his Savior. Better than life. This life.
Sometimes when I take a walk down the beach, I can't imagine life being more amazing than it is in that moment. Playing with grandsons, eating with my own kids, sipping wine and talking about the day with Bill on the porch in the late evening, watching dolphins rolling playfully in the ocean, sharing stories with my friends, or seeing the sun splash its majesty across the skies right before it decides to retire for the night are grand to me. They are life at its most profound. What could be better than this! My thought when I am so close to what is best in my world.
What I thought at the funeral today is this: All of the things I treasure in my life are so good because He makes them better than they should be. God's love, steadfast and immutable, is wrapped around all the beauty and relationships in my life. Because He loves me, I am secure. In this life and in the next. Right now I can only see the glory of Christ imperfectly -- look at His glory and power through a clouded lens. One day I will look into His perfect face with perfect clarity and know, beyond doubt, that God's love is better than anything in this life. That is why experiencing my Father here makes that transition natural. Traveling from one home to the next. From glory to glory.
So I was reminded today about the fact that all must die. We don't finagle our way out of it. It is going to be our fate if we got here in the first place. I know there are some who believe we are just dust to dust with nothing more after this life. Some believe we go on to become something or someone else. Others believe in some vague "by-n-by." But for those of us who know what it means to have seen God in His sanctuary performing on our behalf what only He can do through His power and for His glory, we are not afraid or confused. Because the Father we know here in this world is only a breath away preparing a place for us that this earth only vaguely replicates. All of our praising here on earth is tinny and small compared to the symphonies and choirs of saints and angels whose lips ever bless our Christ there. Life here can be so sweet. Infused with the goodness of God. So I will bless Him as long as I live with hands lifted up to His throne knowing that, sweeter yet, is life ever after with Him.
They will see His face.......Revelation 22:4
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