To Whom It May Concern…
Part of me wants to apologize for not putting out a post last week. Part of me hopes you didn’t notice and the rest of me hopes you all were desperate to hear from me…Yeah, so there’s that. The bottom line is: this is supposed to be a glimpse into what it looks like to follow Jesus every day in the everyday. Sometimes life is not so “everyday,” and that messes with blog schedules.
Part of me is embarrassed that I can’t seem to both start and finish a series of posts on anything. The rest of me recognizes that my everyday-ness involves lots of shifts of focus. Following Jesus means just that: following Jesus, not necessarily the apparent plan.
So…the new journal opened with a dedication page.
To: ________________________
From: ______________________
Date: _______________________
This book is my story, a record of some of my feelings, thoughts and conversations with God about life, His word, all the things.
But to whom is my story written?
My first thought was that it was a gift to my parents at my birth. Psalm 127 says that children are a reward, an inheritance. So, maybe…
Then I wondered if I was a gift to the Church. Ephesians 4 tells us that God gave persons to the Body of Christ for its growth and maturity into the likeness of His Son. Yes, this too, perhaps…
Then I was reminded that just a few verses later, Paul describes the presentation of the scrubbed, rubbed, pressed Bride (the Church) to Jesus. (Do you see the word “present” in the word “presentation?”) Revelation 21 gives us a picture of the New Jerusalem, the City of God coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her groom. Me, part of the Bride as a gift to Him? Yes, definitely!
The opening of Ephesians specifies the date of such a gift: before the beginning of the beginning. For it was in that time frame (or eternity frame) that He chose us to be adopted, separated out from the rest of the world to be His own suitable companions with the ultimate result that His amazing, abundant, evident power and favor is praised.
So, it is my story, but it is written for His pleasure, a tale in which the characters develop and flourish with the happy ending of Bride — uniquely matched to Him through the many facets and faces of His grace — and Groom completely satisfied and delighted with each other!
The dedication page of my new journal now reads:
To: Jesus
From: Abba and Pneuma*
Date: Before the foundation of the world
Nothing everyday about any of that!!! But still
Following Jesus every day in the everyday,
Christi
P.S. *Pneuma is the Greek word breath, used for the Holy Spirit.
0 Comments