1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:1-3) **********************************************************
August 11th, 2020. My father had been gone three years. Although I am at peace that his spirit is with the Lord, I miss the man, my dad, every day. His passing left an empty space in my heart that no one else could fill. I was not looking forward to waking up to this day of remembrance of his last, labored breaths.
This day, however, started out, not with images of dying and death, but of life and living. I looked at my phone. The first image showing on Facebook in my feed was a video of a baby, just a few hours old. My great-niece Zoey. Her name means “life.” The day became one of life renewed in my dad’s great-granddaughter. She was not quite due yet. A breach baby. More of a struggle to enter the world, but God brought her safely through on August 11th. On the date of her great-granddad’s passing, she entered. A life remembrance was now born on this day. The cry of new life, not the last breaths of life departing.
God has a way of bringing good out of heartache. We may be unable to see it until we change our focus to Him. There are little miracles all around us just waiting to be noticed with wonder and awe and gratitude.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” Here, below, we are the recipients. To receive His gifts, however, they must be opened with our sight, hearing, sense of smell, taste, touch. He gave us these five senses, along with the sense to use them and a heart to appreciate and love these gifts. Yet, He, also, gave us the option of choice to not use these senses and open our heart to His gifts.
This day, I chose the life image that I saw and heard in the video, a new baby born to remind me that God is a life-giving, life-sustaining Father. I envisioned my dad gently holding his great-granddaughter, talking to her with the biggest smile on his face. God gives us these gifts on, otherwise, dark days, if we are open to them– and open them up to experience clearly with His Light.
Dad is ahead of us going home to the Father. The greatest, most perfect gift awaits beyond this life when we join the Lord and abide where Jesus awaits in our eternal Home. Until then, His gifts abound all around us. Hear the life-cry of the newborn. See the beauty of the sunrise. Taste the richness of fruit picked from trees. Smell the aroma of lilacs. Touch the wrinkled hands of your elderly neighbor. Choose the gifts. Open them on the days of chaos in the news, violence around the world, strife in your town, disagreements at home, unrest in your heart—
–REMEMBER–
“I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.”
(Sharon G. Tate 08/16/2020 blog) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word