Fitting In

I had to make a trip to our neighborhood senior center today to sign up for fresh, local produce coupons at farmers' markets this summer. I've done this for several years now and each time I feel so young, compared to the other seniors when I go in there to apply. It's not a pleasant thought to know that I'm the one who qualifies as the senior citizen now, and not just my husband. He's five years older than I am. I don't have to apply for him as his proxy any more. But I still feel uncomfortable just the same.

Feeling out of place like that made me think of heaven. I've heard it said that everyone will go to heaven...everyone who would be happy there. Hopefully, I wouldn't feel out of place or uncomfortable in heaven. That's what our preparation is for here on earth. Living the Christian lifestyle doesn't just make us good witnesses to those around us. It is also our practice for the kind of living that happens in our heavenly home.

The sensual pleasures and worldly entertainment we enjoy here on earth will not be found in heaven. Would I be bored there? How will I fit in? How can I find joy in the presence of angels, if my actions here make them veil their faces? I pray the Lord shows me now what "things" I can and cannot take with me when I enter that glorious land. I really do want to fit in.

Watching the Gauge

This afternoon when I decided to take a nap, I discovered that my oxygen concentrator had a problem. It didn't seem to be a big problem--the gauge that tells you how much oxygen you're getting wasn't working. After a phone call to a repairman and some simple troubleshooting, I found out that there was a small crimp in the oxygen tubing that caused the gauge to malfunction. How alarming that a tiny crimp in the tubing would be so important to my getting enough oxygen.

When I think of my spiritual life, I wonder if there are any "crimps" in my lifestyle that would cause the full delivery of the Holy Spirit to miss reaching me. I don't want anything to stop the flow of God's Spirit, sometimes referred to as the Breath of Life.

The only way to discover a malfunction is to keep monitoring the gauge. So, in this case we must keep our eyes on the Bible, our measuring tool for discovering any problems in our life. It won't fix the problem. For that, you'll have to get on the phone with the Master Repairman Jesus. He knows just where the "crimps" are and what to do about them.