Are You Choosing Happily Ever After?

 

 

 

“We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love is our first.”

Unknown

As a writer the palette of love provides innumerable shades of color with which to paint a story.

Despite the rainbow of choices there is a preset pattern that all romance novels follow:

Boy Meets Girl.

Boy Falls for Girl.

Boy and Girl are Torn Apart.

Boy Wins Girl Back.

But romance novels aren’t real life, right?

I disagree.

I think we are all characters in the greatest romance novel of all time - the story of God and His Beloved Creation.

God in all of His infinite wisdom fell in love with us on the day of our creation and since that day He has been wooing us into a relationship with Him.

In turn how have we treated His love?

We run away – come back – run away – come back and run away again in a strange dance of courtship that must hurt Him with each rejection letter we send.

And yet, like a truly besotted lover, He continues to woo us with His love – giving us gifts of infinite and immeasurable value.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

God gave us His greatest treasure in an act of sacrificial love so great we cannot fathom how truly devastating the loss of His son by His side – even for a brief twinkle of time – was for Him.

But, like so many heroes and heroines in the great love stories throughout history – we turn away from our Suitor choosing to chase after things of destruction and brokenness, rather than seeing the love waiting for us in our own True Beloved.

How can we change this behavior?

How do we find our ways out of the cycle of separation where we find ourselves?

We pull a Paul Harvey and read "the rest of the story".

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth.....I saw the Holy City...prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God...for the old order of things has passed away."

Revelation 21:1-4 (excerpt)

As all great romances end with:

Boy gets Girl.

Our love stories with God are no different.

He is wooing us with the knowledge that we will be completely and wholly together with Him –one day soon.

But how do we accept the love that is being offered to each of us in our own love story?

We choose to live in love rather than in loss.

We live like we read the last page of the novel.

We live with the knowledge that God is our great Beloved.

We live – learning each day – what love truly is from the Creator of love.

And we live in a life-long romance novel believing this truth...

And they lived happily ever after.

Now, that is a great way to end a story.

I guess God really is the Author of our lives.

 

 

 

Interested in trying a romance novel on for size?

 

Pick Up a Bible for You:

 

or

Pick Up: The Wooing of Jane Grey

The There that is Home...

Why do you always forget us?
   Why do you forsake us so long?

Lamentations 5:20

Do you ever feel like this is you?

Do you ever feel like God is allowing problem after problem to float your way without any end in sight?

Do you ever just want to sit down and not take one more step because you feel like it is pointless?

Many of us can find it very easy to sit down in our mud pits; to wallow in the sadness and pain of life. We can allow the misery we are feeling in the moment to overshadow the promises of God.

[Jesus said] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

Jesus told us we would have problems. He told his disciples that they would surely face death because they followed him. But he also promised new life in the power of the resurrection.

This world isn't heaven. But, we occasionally see glimpses of heaven:

 ...in the beauty of a sunset or the laughter of a child;

...in the fragrance of a lilac or the touch of a friend;

...in the taste of a perfect dinner or a wonderful night of worship.

But heaven isn't here; we will have problems.

We will face death, disease and taxes. We will endure wars, poverty, unstable economies and corrupt leaders. And yet, through it all we can rest in the knowledge that this here isn't there. The there which is waiting for each of us is greater than any one moment we can imagine.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 21: 1-4

We will have trouble...The pain of the moment will still exist, but in the midst of the mud pit we can see the light of hope shining in the distance as a beacon calling out to us...calling each of us HOME.

Scripture

Lamentations 5:1-4

Quote of the Day

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”

Eskimo Proverb

 

Question of the Day

 

What does heaven look like to you?