He will wipe every tear from their eyes,

 

and there will be no more death

 

or sorrow or crying or pain.

 

All these things are gone forever.”

 

Revelation 21:4

 

 

If I could fast forward time, this particular verse would be past tense; because it would have happened many moons and multiple yesterdays ago.

 

But “if’s” and “why’s” are mostly only good for circular questions and unsatisfactory reasoning; and I’d love to hear the strung-together-set-of-words that could completely satisfy either of them.

 

But that said, plus my inability to fast forward time, doesn’t take away one iota of joy when I contemplate the verse’s very literal future happening; and I’ve asked the Lord for a front row seat at his coming event.

 

It’s almost impossible to imagine a world that has no tears, no death, no sorrow, no crying, and no pain; and when God says the word “forever” it has indescribably more meaning than when you or I indiscriminately use it. We don’t know much about forever…not yet, anyway; but its day is coming. And some days, it can’t come soon enough for me.

(Shepherd’s cave, Bethlehem, Israel)

 

Years ago whenever I’d face a problem, I’d look up and say, “Okay, Lord, what are you teaching me here? What do you want me to learn from this”?

 

I quit asking those questions after Dan was killed; not because I thought there wasn’t anything more to learn, but because suddenly it was painfully and obviously clear just how many things there were to learn.

 

Married at age 22; for 33 years and 20 days; and then suddenly blindsided by sudden traumatic death. Widowed. HATED the word; wouldn’t even say it for a long time.

 

But miracle of miracles, I wasn’t angry. Working in mental health for a long time, I knew that anger was a normal emotion that could follow death; but I wasn’t. I was even a little bit bemused by its absence; but I’d periodically note to myself, and God, just how thankful I was to not be.

 

I actually think its absence improved my spiritual hearing and let me listen much more attentively to God’s quiet directions. It flat out amazed me how many times the right verse, piece of information, or person just ended up smack in front of me.

 

I don’t have a magic formula for not being angry, but I do think it probably had a whole lot to do with the way Dan and I lived our lives together. We sure weren’t perfect, but we also didn’t practice anger. Whenever something aggravating, unfair or anger provoking occurred, we’d always talk about it; and his ultimate response would be, “Well, even though they did…blah blah blah…we still have to do the right thing”.

 

It occurs to me now that we actually practiced the opposite of anger; and I’m so grateful for the leadership he provided in doing so. It produced very good results; and I’m still not angry.

 

 

Your own ears will hear him.

 

Right behind you a voice will say,

 

“This is the way you should go,”

 

whether to the right or to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

 

If you’re old enough, you might remember a TV program called “Fantasy Island”; an hour-long show that usually unfolded three different story lines per episode. At the beginning of each, the Overseer’s assistant would announce the new guest’s arrival by ringing the tower bell and shouting, “Ze Plane! Ze Plane! Boss! Ze Plane!”

 

That’s exactly how I felt New Year’s Day when I realized my new bulbs had broken ground. The bulbs! The bulbs! The bulbs are coming up!

 

Once Christmas is over and New Year’s has passed, I’m always ready for spring; and it was my good fortune to be in Lowe’s in early December when they discounted the bulbs 75%, so I cleaned them out. I can hardly wait to see the cheerful explosions of yellow and white daffodils, narcissus, and tiny little vivid irises.

 

They’re exactly the right kind of flowers for me because once planted, they bloom; and then they stay in the ground and mind their own business till next year. My grandmother was a very talented gardener, but I didn’t come anywhere near inheriting her green genes. When our church youth group would distribute beautiful hanging baskets of color every Mother’s Day, I always figured my basket was thinking, “Please don’t give me to her; she’s going to kill me!” and sure enough, I eventually would.

 

I’d probably benefit from some gardening tutorials, but I’d honestly rather plant with words, thoughts and deeds anyway; and I do regularly discuss my planting projects with the Master Gardener…

 

 

Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden

 

in the east

 

and there he placed the man he had made.

 

Genesis 2:8

 

 

…and I love love love to watch his work…

 

 

…Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.

 

I planted the seed in your hearts,

 

and Apollos watered it,

 

but it was God who made it grow.

 

It’s not important who does the planting,

 

or who does the watering.

 

What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

1 Corinthians 3: 5-7

 

 

There’s an old abandoned homestead piece of land that I love driving past in the spring. It has thick bushy rows of blooming yellow daffodils and white narcissus; clearly proclaiming that this once was a loved property where things were planted and, even though the house is long gone, continues to produce a harvest of beauty. I hope that someday the same can be said about my life.

 

 

The waiting line in our local post office forms beside a waist-high divider—a resting place for packages and also a stamp display case. The stamps range from a festive “Happy Birthday” to floral hearts to large reptiles and dinosaurs. One day I overheard a conversation in line behind me. Two young children, in care of their grandmother, were entertaining themselves talking about the stamps positioned at nose level.

 

Their exchange went something like this: “Nana, can we buy Happy Birthday stamps?”…“No, I wouldn’t want to wish the electric company ‘Happy Birthday.’”…“Nana, can we buy the heart stamps?”…“No, I wouldn’t want to put ‘I love you on my bills.”…“Nana, what about the dinosaurs?”…“No, I don’t want those. I just want plain old stamps.”

 

By the time we reached the end of the display, they were no longer bothering to even ask; and I was thinking, “Good grief, Woman!! WHY NOT buy the ones they want?”

 

When I got to the window, I told the clerk to give me the brightest wildest stamps he had. Plain stamps are fine and surely do their job, but what’s wrong with choosing the ones that bring a smile to your face and spirit?

 

The first time I heard Mercy Me’s “I Can Only Imagine”, it brought goose bumps; and I stood still and savored, “Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?…I can only imagine! I can only imagine!”

 

So, what are your dreams; and what will your epithet say? Will it say you put off doing what would have caused your heart to soar because it wasn’t on your schedule; or that you were too rigid to detour from your routine?

 

In Deuteronomy 30:19 Moses challenged his people:

 

“This day I call heaven and earth

 

as witnesses against you

 

that I have set before you life and death,

 

blessings and curses.

 

Now choose life,

 

so that you and your children may live

 

and that you may love the Lord your God,

 

listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

 

For the Lord is your life….”

 

Which stamps will you buy?

 

 

(I wrote this way back in 2005; and it still fits.)

 

When was the last time you caught your breath as your spirit soared and danced before God?

 

Several Augusts ago I had opportunity to hike to a mountaintop in Vail, CO. Rotating 360 degrees revealed a surround of mountain peaks. The air was clear and the sun warm in a cool breeze. Raising my eyes from the wildflowers stretching far down the grassy slope at my feet to the majestic mountains in the distance, my heart soared before the Lord.

 

“I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing,” words of Rabbi Hillel who lived in Jerusalem during the days of King Herod. King David danced before the Lord in II Samuel; and the Psalms teach that God turns our mourning into dancing and we are to praise Him with dancing. We may not get to choose how we die; but we do get to choose if we dance before we die.

 

Do you ever say, “I’ll be happy when…” or “someday when things settle, I’ll…” or “one of these days, I’m going to…”? If life could be boxed, tied neatly with string and placed on a shelf, then maybe we would be happy; but the reality is that life passes quickly and we, with it, are constantly changing. There are very few logical natural stopping places.

 

The older I grow, the more I become aware that time is accelerating. As of last Thursday, we no longer have a teenager in our family. Our youngest child turned 20 and I’m struck by the realization that a significant page in our book of parenting has turned. How strange that we don’t really know what we’re losing until one day it’s gone.

 

The most important things in life have to do with relationships—not possessions or accomplishments. So I wonder why is it that the things of greatest value get put off until some imaginary someday? Truth is, we’re all running low on “some days”; and if we plan to chase our dreams, we’d better get going.

 

An old Irish proverb says, “Dance as if no one were watching, sing as if no one were listening and live every day as if it were your last.”

 

To be continued…