Pull Over, Honey... I Need a Picture!

Ok, so I know that I am not the only person who has driven past wild flowers or cotton fields and wanted to stop to take pictures. Usually I'm by myself, so that's not a possibility. But today... TODAY my darling husband was driving! I kept talking about how great a picture would look of someone and those wildflowers...I guess I talked about it enough, because before I knew it, he was pulling over onto the side of the road...YES!! As cars drove past us, me and the love of my life were in our own little world, laughing at ourselves, wondering what people driving past us might be saying. God is so good like that. To put this man into my life, and to allow us these little moments.

Life seems so busy some times, most of the times actually. Here lately, the time has been flying by....day after day, week after week. I've been trying to figure out how to make it slow down...just how exactly do you live life to the fullest? How do you make each moment count? Maybe if I lived with more intention, what if I intentionally called my daddy on my lunch break, or if I intentionally stopped to visit that widow from church, or if, with intention, I baked a pie for that sweet old man who lives down the street? What if I intentionally turned off the TV, signed off of Facebook, turned my cell phone to silent and just spent an evening with my husband, or intentionally got up an hour early to have coffee with a darling friend before work?

God's Word is full of reminders of how fleeting time is. We hear it from Job, "Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath..."(7:7), James,"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes..." (4:14), the Psalmist "Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow..." (144:4). But those beautiful wild flowers growing on the side of the road today, they reminded me of a scripture, too. Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever." Now this is a scripture that breathes life into my soul. My tired, overworked, super busy, not enough hours in the day, Lord, let me sleep a little longer this morning soul. Sure, life is fleeting, but thanks to God, and His Son Jesus, it doesn't end here.

No matter how quickly our life passes, God stands forever. His Word, His love, His faithfulness, His goodness, His mercy, His grace, and His offer of salvation. Forever, that means eternally. Those pretty little yellow flowers, they whispered a promise to me. In this fast-paced life, God hasn't forgotten me. You see, those flower, God put them there, He adorned them in all of their beauty, and He did it only for a moment. That grass will soon wither, and those flowers, well, they will fade...and one day, so will I...and at that moment, when my last breath is drawn, and I close my eyes, I will reopen them and find myself in the arms of Jesus. He'll sit me down, and He will take my hand, and He'll welcome His child into eternity. There, there will be no deadlines, no hurries, no worrying about being late, or if I spent enough time with my family. There, there will be forever, in front of me, and I think I will smile as I remember today. Not because of the flowers, or because of the cool fall breeze, or because of some fun pictures...but because today, I had a forever moment. A moment where, with my husband by my side, we decided to just press the pause button on life, to pull over on the side of the road, and let the world drive by. To allow the simplicity of life to breathe into our tired, busy souls, and to rejuvenate our worn-out bodies, to laugh, to be silly, to enjoy this tiny moment.

Today, I learned that, yes, I need to live my life with more intention, to open my eyes to those forever moments, and that sometimes, He's telling me to just pull over. And today, I was intentional, you see, I've driven past those flowers for years, never taking the time to stop...and today, I pulled onto the side of the road. My intentions were to take pictures, but God, His intentions were to meet me there. On His calendar that spans eternal, He had September 18, 2011 written in Bold sharpie with my name beside it, because my God, well He is an intentional God, who intentionally loves His creation, and intentionally allowed His Son to die, who intentionally conquered death, so that He could and can intentionally meet with His children.