Happy 2012

Happy New Year! Hopefully the newness hasn't worn off quite yet. The end of 2011 proved challenging... experiencing heart-wrenching loss, empty seats around the holiday table, and a heavy heart for so many trying to find their way amidst sorrow, emptiness, loneliness and pain. 2011 taught me, is teaching me, the importance of our time... what we do with it, the understanding that no one knows how much they have, and the dire need to tell a world about the hope that is found only in Jesus Christ.

I spent a lot of last year focused on time anyways, because it just seemed to be flying by so quickly and the harder I hung on, the faster it went. Trying to figure out how to slow it down, how to make the most of it, how to measure it. We like to measure things, don't we? Down south, we're all too familiar with measuring. A few of our favorites (or at least mine)...tea by the gallon, sugar by the pound, butter by the stick, coffee by the cup, fabric by the yard, tomatoes by the bushel, apples by the peck, and on and on and on. We have measuring cups in our kitchen, a tape measure in our garage, scales in our bathroom, a yard stick in our craft room... the ability to measure something tangible, what an awesome concept. But time...how do we measure time?

We have hour glasses, sundials, the clock, calenders, chronometers, and so forth. Is that how we measure our time? Or how about seconds and minutes and hours and days? There are 86, 400 seconds in a day, that's 1,440 minutes, or 24 hours. And there are 365 days in a year... that is 12 months, 8,766 hours, 525, 949 minutes, 31,556,926 seconds. Does that work? Oh, or what about the breaths we take? I was reading in Our State magazine this past week and it had an article that started off with a few facts about breathing. It stated, "We take 15 breaths every minutes, 900 breaths every hour, 21,600 breaths every day." Makes me think of the quote "Is it the amount of breathes we take or the moments that take our breathe away?" Well, is it?

None of these seem to help measure time in an eternal sense. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "...He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." When God created us, He purposed us to live forever, and then came Adam and Eve and that serpent in the garden... sin, that thing that robbed us of a direct line of communication to God. That thing that created death and eternal separation from a Holy God. But eternity was still in our hearts... that's why it is so hard to lose someone we love, because we feel in our spirit that we should live forever. And that is what makes Jesus Christ and His sacrifice so glorious. As He hung on that cross, and breathed His last, He conquered death. The veil was torn and that direct line was brought back, He made a way for that yearning of eternity in our hearts to become a real thing, Jesus bought back our time. Oh, and how we praise Him for that!

So, if Jesus sacrificed Himself to give us the hope of eternity, how should that change the way we use our time? It only seems right that we use it to glorify His name because He is the only One worthy. Worthy to live for and worthy to die for.

Just something to think on as we begin a new year. How will you spend your 31,556,926 seconds?

Hope...

I am still somewhat afraid of the dark. Okay, a LOT afraid of the dark. When my husband is gone for the night, I do not sleep. I can hear everything, inside and outside, and the dogs can, too! I leave all the lights on, the TV blaring, and I usually spend the night on the couch.

But here is the funny part... if my husbands just working late, at a late night bible study, taking part in a youth lock-in, or just hanging out with his buddies...for whatever reason, if he is coming home that same night, even if it is 2 in the morning... I can rest peacefully. I have no anxiety about the night or what it may hold. I can go to my room, turn out all the lights, switch off the TV and sleep soundly. Sometimes... most of the time, I don't even hear him come in. I find that completely crazy...and amazing all at the same time.

I think life is, or at least can be, a lot like this. Psalm 4:8 says, "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." See, here's the thing. I can rest, I can find comfort in knowing that The Groom is returning. He promises His bride that He will come back. When the darkness settles in, the shadows start to creep up, when every bump and thud seems to be amplified, I can lie down and sleep in peace. Why you ask. The answer can be found in Psalm 62:5, "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." Because of this, I have hope. I have hope when I face trials, I have hope when the enemy comes against me, not if, when...I have hope in the valleys, I have hope on the mountain tops, I have hope when everything around me crumbles.

My Hope Comes From Him! Glory to God He has given me hope.

Without the hope of Jesus Christ, your life will be dark, restless, and lonely. You will search for rest but it will not come, but... if you are reading this and you are still breathing, there is still hope for you.

A hope that springs eternal! A hope that does not disappoint!

The truth is this...The Groom will return, soon and very soon, and when He does, He will take His bride with Him. John 14:1-3 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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? 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."

If you know Him personally, that means He is returning for you, there is hope, you can "lie down and sleep in peace," but if you don't.... don't put it off any longer. Hear His call, respond to the hope that can be found in Him and Him alone. He is waiting for you!