You're Bathing in It

I’ve always thought of earth as…well, just earth.  This morning I am wondering though.  What if all this stuff around us isn’t just an alternate reality of heaven’s smooth and gem-laden shine?  Maybe I’ve taken it way too much for granted. 

What if earth’s sunsets, as Ted Loder penned after watching another one, is “like your mercy to gently lift the dark blanket from the earth and from my spirit, and the countless more times I’ve watched the sun set in such a splendiferous farewell it must reflect the fringe of your robe.”  Beautiful thought, eh?

We already know that Moses, or any other human, couldn’t handle the full presence of God.  His face was ablaze just from catching a glimpse of the back side of God.  It is way too much for a sin-tainted humanity who hadn’t really walked side by side with Him since the tragic fruit-fest in the Garden.  But still He comes in some amazing Valentine-like messages of love that are sent to us every day. 

He is far too creative to make them always the same.  Some are the brilliant sunshine, a bit of heaven’s glow.  Sometimes it is a cascade of water pouring from the sky that beats of His pulsing River of Life and periodically booms with the power of His deep and voice.  Sometimes glory flashes in tiny portions that get here when He speaks. 

Maybe the blues of a cloudless sky are the edges of the fabrics He’s shaken out in heaven while decorating one of the homes He’s preparing there, like the colors, apparently some of His favorites, that He chose also for decorating the tabernacle.  I don’t think He’s stopping at the construction part of making our future dwellings into homes.  

Maybe each amber sunset holds the drippings of heaven’s oil that had been offered to our days and not taken hold of.  There they may hang mid-way, reminding us that tomorrow is another day in which we could bring much more of Him onto our soil.

And maybe love is the biggest one.  This “stuff” that is the very air of heaven that has been shared with us to spread around.  When it passes from one human being to another, none can deny that something amazing has occurred.  It is the best of romance, and it is the best of caring for and serving one another. It is all the beautiful things that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians, but it is also sacrifice, most perfectly expressed one bloody red Friday that proves that  there were no limits He’d stop at.  Sometimes love, though we don’t consider it much these days, is heard in the more difficult words of truth and the reminders of caution and consequences. 

His love is the most vast thing in the universe.  Everything in the heartbeat of heaven and every created thing was made as expressions of  it.  No matter if scarlet roses and crimson cards grace your day or not, please know that He has sent you Himself today wherever you are.  It may be in the crispness of an envelope that looks landscape-white with all those seeds of spring buried there and waiting to be revealed, or in the sweep of cold air to awaken you to take a look, or in the steady rhythm of an ocean keeping time with His song.  His love notes to us are everywhere.   Receive the bundle of them today that has your name on them.