highlights reel

So we made it to the end of The Nester’s 31 Days Challenge.

I hope at least one of these posts was a blessing and an encouragement to you.

If cased you missed some, here is my personal highlights reel:

That time I tripped over a simple question

That time my sisters walked 60 miles in three days

That time my son thought we were moving again

That time I was a compulsive mover

That time I wished I had a Pottery Barn nursery

That time I was singing alone in the car

That time I almost threw up in an airport

That time I cried through sixth grade camp

That time my friend and I swapped blogs

That time I sounded like a foreigner in my hometown

For the full contents page for this series, click here.

home sweet home

So here we are.  Day 31 of ‘Defining Home in 31 Days.’

It was a teeny-tiny goal in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that I made it to the end carries with it a sense of accomplishment.

Those who have taken part in 31 Days may be able to relate.

We have arrived.

We made it to the end.

Maybe you’ve had other goals you’ve accomplished.

My sister writes novels in 30 days.  To reach the end of the month with 50,000 words is a great accomplishment.

Some of you are runners.  To train for a race and make it to the finish line feels amazing.  (At least, I would imagine … I’ve never actually put myself through such torture.)

If these earthly goals can carry with them such pleasure, imagine what it will be like when we make it to the end of the all-important race.

When we arrive at the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

When we lay down our man-made trophies and pick up the crown of life.

When we, Lord-willing, hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

It is purely by His help and sustaining grace that we could ever attain such a goal — not by our own works, but by the grace of God Himself.

And certainly it will not be due to our own accomplishment, but solely because of the One who hung on the cross and declared, “It is finished.”

We won’t be patting ourselves on the back that day for a job well done, but will be praising the One who began a good work and was faithful to complete it.

What joy will fill our hearts when we come to the end of this journey and reach our final destination.

Only then will we be

home, sweet home.

This is Day 31 of ‘Defining Home in 31 Days.’  Tune in tomorrow for a highlights reel.

Photo credit: Pete

walking with a wider lens

Today is my mom’s birthday.

I didn’t bake her a cake.

I didn’t call and sing to her over the phone.

I didn’t even send her a card.

If I decide to stop by to wish her a happy birthday, the closest I will get will be to sink my knees into the cold earth next to her grave.

Every time I go to ‘visit’ her at the cemetery, an inner transformation takes place.

My fingers grudgingly turn the steering wheel into the driveway, and dread sits indian-style in my stomach, unwilling to budge.

I go in with a narrow lens zoomed in on my own self-pity.

Then I start to walk around, slowly, intentionally.  I read the inscriptions on the tombstones, and my inward focus is gradually turned outward.

I grieve for people I’ve never met.  I feel the weight of the burdens of those left behind — names with no faces, but with bleeding hearts like mine.

I start to look through wider lenses, and with a panoramic view, I can see how gracious the Lord was, even in my own deep sense of loss.

For me, walking through a cemetery is an incredibly humbling ritual.

There is nothing quite like it to remind me that

This.

Is Not.

Our Home.

This is Day 30 of ‘Defining Home in 31 Days.’  For a full contents page for this series, click here.

heaven is …

Just sixteen days after my mom died, I wrote this on a former blog of mine:

I’m thinking a whole lot more about heaven these days, mostly wondering what it is like.

Silly thoughts, really, like when it is a beautiful day outside and I think to myself, “Oh, what a pity that Mom is missing such a glorious day. She would have loved this blue sky and sunshine.”

Then I think, “Hey, idiot. The weather is infinitely better in heaven on a permanent basis. We’re livin’ in the Shadowlands.”

Yet again, I will drive past one of mom’s favorite restaurants and think, “How sad that she’ll never be able to eat Chicken Pad Thai from Thai Palace or Mongolian beef from Mr. You’s Chinese take-out.”

Then again, I realize, “Hey, idiot. The food is much better in heaven. The Chinese buffet on earth has got nothin’ on heaven’s buffet.”

Even though it’s been over two years since I wrote that, the sentiments remain.

Our knowledge of what heaven is really like is limited.  The Bible tells us just enough to know that there is nothing better.

Heaven is …

more glorious than the most breathtaking sunset you have ever seen.

Heaven is …

sweeter than the sound of your child’s uncontrollable giggles and “I love you, Mommy.”

Heaven is …

more satisfying than the lingering embrace of the one you love.

Heaven is …

infinitely better than the best you’ve ever known so far.

We’re livin’ in the Shadowlands. 

This is Day 29 of ‘Defining Home in 31 Days.’  Click here for the contents page for this series.

the trip of a lifetime

Have you ever thought about how we can prepare for heaven?

I found the following excerpt to be very challenging and thought-provoking.  It comes from the book, Relationships: A mess worth making, by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp.

“How do you stimulate your imagination in any area of life?  If you have a vision for decorating your house, you buy decorating magazines and pore over them until you get an idea of what you want to do.  If you want to take a vacation, you sit down with someone who has been where you want to go.  You talk about his trip, gaining insight and excitement about what you can do when you get there.  You will probably get travel brochures or look at the pictures from your friend’s trip.”

If heaven is our true, eternal home, and heaven is where we’re headed, then surely we ought to prepare ourselves for our final destination, the mansion that is prepared for us.

There may not be any travel brochures or webpages offered by those who’ve been there already, except for one: the testimony of Christ Himself.  He is the friend who shows us the pictures of his trip, who describes the beach house at the end of the winding dirt road, who provides us with full-color magazine images to gawk at and drool over.

How are you getting ready for this ultimate trip to paradise?

This is Day 28 of ‘Defining Home in 31 Days.’  Click here for a full list of posts in this series. 

the pathway home

I’ve written a lot in this series about heaven as our true home, and what a blessing it is to be able to look forward to eternity.

But the path to heaven is not always smooth sailing, is it?

The following excerpt comes from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening.  It’s a devotional written on Jude 24, on the words, “Able to keep you from falling.”

Read on, and be encouraged:

“In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, “My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.” If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down. Oh, if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which watches over us day by day! Think, how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to cast ourselves down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, “Glory be to him, who is able to keep us from falling.” We have many foes who try to push us down. The road is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest precipice. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for our defense. He is faithful that hath promised, and he is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence,  ‘Against me earth and hell combine,  But on my side is power divine;  Jesus is all, and he is mine!'”

 This is Day 26 of Defining Home in 31 Days.  Click here for the contents page for this series.