Today
Whitney Standlea is our guest blogger. Whitney is a devoted wife to her husband
Jimmy and mom to three wonderful children.
My pastor recently started a
sermon series through Revelation. During one of his first sermons he talked
about the imminence of the Day of the Lord. As we’ve been going through
Revelation, I’ve been thinking more of this and the many Scriptures that speak
about hoping in the Lord’s coming. We are told to eagerly wait for it (1 Cor. 1:7 and Phil
3:20-21).
Do
I often think about the Lord’s coming and the hope I have?
Do
I eagerly watch for it?
Do
I even watch for it at all.
Thought
1: E-MAIL
I
confess! I have an addiction to Gmail. I keep it open all day and am constantly
(every minute or so) glancing at it to see if I have received a new message.
I’ve recently taken measure to reduce this but its been challenging. Its always
something: a reply back from a friend, a confirmation my order has shipped, an
update from the church, a new home posted that meets our search criteria (we’ve
been home hunting). All day, in every free moment I am running past the
computer to see if something new has come in.
I
think there are others with similar “checking” issues. It can be with phones,
Facebook, Twitter or even the mail box. I know I have a hard time waiting for
the mail man to get here each day.
How
would things be different if we were constantly glancing at the sky with our
eyes or constantly turning our hearts to God in prayer in hope that He is
coming?
Let my eyes glance
upward.
Draw my heart to Heaven.
Help me see past all that vies for my attention here.
Turn my thoughts to
Jesus.
Send my mind to prayers.
Make me ever watchful, until He should appear.
It
seems that marriage is always full of such wonderful examples and metaphors for
us…
My
husband’s job varies each day. Sometimes he returns home at 1:00. Other days
its 6:00. I never know what it will be each day. He usually calls to inform me
when he is on his way home, but not always. It seems that whether he tells me
or not, my eyes are always glancing out that sliding glass door for his work
truck. Its funny that that big old work truck with “Four Paws Fence” on the
side is so special to me. If I hear a car driving up, I do a double take with
the hope that its him.
Sometimes
when I’m doing this I remember back to the days we were dating. I was always
glancing outside for that silver Ford Taurus. Always hoping he would surprise
me, even if I knew he wasn’t coming.
Would
that my desire for the presence of Christ be far-surpassing to my desire for my
husband’s presence.
Jesus, your precious
presence
near to me each day.
Let is be a foretaste of
The joy that’s on the way.
From this earthly
separation
my heart should turn to You.
Till fullness of your presence
when all things are made new.
The first two thoughts
focused on waiting… the next two will deal with improving/fixing…
I’ve always been amazed at
the amount of home remodeling and home decorating shows there are on tv. I’ve
enjoyed “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” in the past, but I don’t have cable
television so I haven’t seen a lot of the other ones. Now that we are planning
to own our first home I’ve also been overwhelmed out the number of blogs on
this subject. It is neat to me that you can find a step-by-step guide for
anything you can dream of doing to your home.
I believe all of this home
improving points to something deeper: We have a longing for a little corner of
perfection on earth. As we twiddle and widdle our way to creating the most
functional kitchen or the most relaxing bedroom, we are expressing our inner
desire to have a piece of heaven. We want a place where all is right and
everything is beautiful.
Its interesting to see how
quickly styles in design move out of fashion, and our own tastes are even more
fleeting. We constantly feel the urge to paint a room again or need to
buy a new bed set even if the old one isn’t worn out. The temporal-ness of interior
decorations should point us ever Homeward. We can certainly try, but things are
never going to be quite right here. The great Designer has perfected a home for
us (with streets of gold and walls of precious stones) and we will find no true
satisfaction in any arrangements this side of heaven. As you work on your home
by cleaning, reorganizing, or redecorating, may it be a reminder of
the place God has prepared for you.
Labels: Guest Blogger