Eating lunch with my husband and several dear friends on the actual Valentine's Day
Eating lunch
Eating
My husband
Dear friends
(not necessarily in that order)
The incomparable gift of laughter--especially when shared with beloved family and friends
The staggering beauty of the stars and the shining crescent moon early this morning as I walked sweet old Moses
An incredible lecture by our Bible study teacher yesterday
The book of Amos (that we are studying in Bible study)
The prophet Amos, himself. Aren't you thankful God loves to use nobodies? And unqualified, utterly undeserving nobodies, at that. After all, the fact that you are even reading this is proof of that!
The power of One Life. One yielded, surrendered life. Can there be anything more powerful? More on this at a later date, but suffice it to say, this has convicted the socks off of me today.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer--see above. I have always loved his words from The Cost of Discipleship: "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."
When we are called to "come and die"--die to our selfishness, die to our pride, die to our need to control... we follow a Savior, a sovereign almighty God, who died before us and for us. I can't do it--I'm too sinful--but He can, and will, in me and through me. Boy, that's reason to be thankful! But it gets better, for...
Following that death, He gives us abundant, full, joyful LIFE! After each of our little, daily deaths--abundant life. And after our final death--abundant, eternal life. So totally grateful!
I could go on and on, but seeing how it's the Day-After-Valentine's Day, I wanted to include one short passage from a love letter Bonhoeffer (with whom I am now obsessed--what a man!) wrote to his fiancé while he was imprisoned in Germany. Remember, Bonhoeffer was in prison during World War II for actively opposing the Nazi regime and helping smuggle out Jews to safety. He was executed not too many months after writing this for his involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. Eric Metaxas explains that "His very engagement was his way of living out what he believed. He did everything, including becoming engaged to Maria, 'unto God.' It was not a calculation, but an act of faith." Here are Bonhoeffer's words to Maria:
"When I consider the state of the world, the total obscurity enshrouding our personal destiny, and my present imprisonment, our union--if it wasn't frivolity, which it certainly wasn't--can only be a token of God's grace and goodness, which summon us to believe in Him. We would have to be blind not to see that. When Jeremiah said, in his people's hour of direst need, that 'houses and fields shall again be bought in this land,' it was a token of confidence in the future. That requires faith, and may God grant it to us daily. I don't mean the faith that flees the world, but the faith that endures in the world and loves and remains true to that world in spite of all the hardships it brings us. Our marriage must be a 'yes' to God's earth. It must strengthen our resolve to do and accomplish something on earth. I fear that Christians who venture to stand on earth on only one leg will stand in heaven on only one leg too."
Today, I'm so thankful for that reminder and that charge--my marriage is a "yes" to God's earth which "must strengthen our resolve to do and accomplish something on earth." Perhaps that resolve might involve being a Bonhoeffer and standing up for those unable to stand up for themselves. Or dying to myself and my selfish desires and living for Him and His glory. Or loving others more than I love myself. Or fearing what God thinks of me far more than I fear what people think of me. Or loving my husband, my children, my family, my friends in such a way that I am daily saying "YES" to my Lord and to this place and time on earth where He has put me to make a difference for as long as He chooses to leave me here.
"Only one life; twill soon be past. Only what's done for Jesus will last."
To God be the glory--here and now on this earth and forevermore.
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