A devotional by Tori Kelly brought me to a verse in Revelations:
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Revelation 4:8
Now, Revelations is not my favorite book in the Bible. It’s easy to get lost in the symbolism of certain numbers and strange sounding creatures. Like in this verse, there were creatures that looked like a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle, all with six wings and eyes all over them. Creepy.
But in getting lost in the imagery, I missed the most important part.
“Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
Day and night, praising God, non-stop.
One of my favorite places to be is in our little church, alone at the piano. No lights, no microphones, no amplifiers. Just me and the music. In the silence, I began to tinker on the keys until a certain chord or melody brought a song to mind. It’s called “The Revelation Song” (The first time I heard it, it was by Phillips, Craig and Dean. Listen to it here.) There, in an empty church, with just an audience of One, the song poured out into the emptiness. Praise in its purest form, not leading or performing, just singing for the sheer joy if it. And to think that someday, that is what I will do day and night. Now that’s heaven.
The point of the devotional was that this life is temporary. The description in Revelations is where we will be. All our troubles – temporary. Our joy on the earth – temporary.
“Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.” Psalm 144:3-4
“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14-15
A mist, a vapor, a fleeting shadow. Thoughts of heaven make my struggles seem petty compared to forever.
I lost a good friend after valiant battles with cancer. I recall the day that she told us the chemo was no longer working. Amidst the thoughts of all she would miss, not seeing her kids graduate from high school or holding grand-babies, a sense of joy came over me. I was reluctant to say anything, but I told her I was excited, because now she gets to meet Jesus. It may have seemed a bit cold and unsympathetic, but you pray for words at times like that and that’s all I had. I scratched down a possible lyric, “cancer may take you, but Jesus took you first.”
She soaked up every moment of her final days. There is a good lesson in that, but don’t wait until you see your days are numbered to soak up life. Spoiler Alert, our days are numbered too.
So love more, worry less
And be Blessed in Great Measure.
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