Right There

Isa 35:1  Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and 
flower-- Like the crocus in spring, 
Isa 35:2  bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color. Mountain glories of 
Lebanon--a gift. Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon--gifts. GOD's resplendent glory, 
fully on display. GOD awesome, GOD majestic. 

    	 Let's see- What to get, what to get? What do they need? What do they really 
want? Are they really going to like this, or should I make sure and hang on to the receipt 
so they can take it back and get what they might like better- different size, color? Maybe 
I'll just get a gift card, so my giving heart is heard while the choice of gift is still theirs. 
	I just had another passing of my birth's anniversary, and even though there is an 
increasing sense of not really wanting to be reminded of how much older I'm getting, 
there is also something nice about being honored and appreciated for having made it 
through another year. There is also something uplifting about having this honor being 
expressed with a gift from a friend. While the thing given may be useful and something 
you really wanted, what is more significant is the heart expressed. There are many items 
that I have kept as dear to me that were given to me as a gift long ago. If I had acquired 
them by some other means, they may have been quickly thrown away or sold in a garage 
sale, but because of their association with the one who gave them, I have a heart 
connection to them that will not let me discard them. 
	There is a gift to be treasured and preserved in our memories. There is a precious 
presentation of not just something that has been picked up at the Dollar Store, or a gift 
card, or even something of priceless worldly value. This is something to be held onto and 
progressively magnified in our senses, rather than slowly dishonored, ignored, and 
discarded. In each and every day, there is a display of the glory of God in the very air 
around us that defies adequate description. For the heart that has been captured by the 
glory of the Father, He is to be seen in His splendor and beauty whenever those things He 
has formed for our pleasure are beheld. These are things that He has designed and created 
by His incredible power, and each one of them represents the very heart of the One that 
continually gives them, whether or not He is even acknowledged as their giver. In the 
sunrise, stars, clouds, mountain scenes, ocean waves, blowing wind, tempest, storm, 
running dog, leaping frog, favorite sound, smiling face, and setting sun, there is a living 
portrait of the one who sees in us a loved one to whom He would give them all. 
	May there be for me a growing appreciation of this creative wonder He has placed 
all around me, and may I not be like the one who begins talking about something else in 
the middle of an awe inspiring performance. May this wonder of His glory gift become 
for me a constant impression of His nearness and His involvement in my every moment. 
Taken by His majesty, my I grow in the grace to live in the place He is drawing me to by 
His splendor. He has most certainly given more than enough evidence of his greatness in 
each and every day, and it is only left up to us to appreciate and be affected by it. 


3/15/06