On This Day

On This Day

I really love Facebook.  Don’t you?  I mean, seriously, where else can we go to keep up with one another, find the best recipes, see pictures of near and far-off places, peoples, and cartoons/memes of any subject under the sun?  Not to mention the groups we can join (no membership fee required), the chat rooms we can converse in, and we also have a place to record our life events for all the world to see--or for just a few select ones, should that be our desire.

One of Facebook’s perks is often a double-edged sword for me.  It’s the feature known as “On This Day.”  For those not familiar with it, what it does is capture the moments from today’s date and highlights them for each year that one was on Facebook.  Oh the walks down Memory Lane I take each morning!  Some cause me to smile and reminisce over past glories while others make me melancholy for hurts that haven’t quite healed.  Some leave me laughing while others have me scratching my head.  Often, as today’s reflections were, I get a little of both.

Apparently in 2014, I wrote a blog about mistaken identity.  It was good (even if I do say so myself) and I recollected the feelings evoked as I read over the words about making a name for one’s self.  How I wanted to be known as a child of God and have His characteristics flow unmistakably through me!  I still do.  For you see, whether we personally can see them or if instead someone has to point them out to us, we all have a certain something that reminds folks of another soul.  Often I have been confused with someone else and in my blog I joked about a few of those times and concluded with this paragraph:

Long story short, each of us is labeled and/or associated with some type of person. Artists, jocks, families, funny people, or what have you: we all leave a mark. We all can be confused with another, as my sister Mary and I often were because we favored in looks. But the group I most want to be associated with, the Person I most want to be known as being related to, and the attributes I most wish to emulate are those of the family of God. I want to be instantly recognizable as a child of God, as one who smiles and offers acceptance, as one whose qualities could come no other way except by inheritance, by being born with the traits and elements of Jesus Christ. If I am to be confused with someone else, may it be as a person of light so that when the truth comes out and my real identity is known, I will have found favor with those whom I come in contact with, and may I leave a sweet savor behind so that even though I was not whom they thought, I was still someone they were glad they just met.

Imagine then, to my chagrin, as I scrolled further down the On This Day page and saw a notification I had posted about funeral arrangements for a man that for the life of me I could not remember whom he was.  I was appalled!  He passed seven years ago and sure, my memories aren’t what they used to be but still...Still, how could he have mattered so much then and not be even a faint memory now?  I internally shuddered.

In conclusion, I was able to investigate and discover who this man was (a former colleague of mine that at the time made a great impression on me and so many others).  However, to not know him now?  To not automatically have his face and personality come to mind saddened me.  I wondered about my own legacy.  Who will remember me when I am gone?  Who will smile longingly at my picture and recall the good times or will I just be the one who folks puzzle over as they repeat my name over and over, trying to jog some link to it?  Thankfully, once we all reach Glory, we won’t have temporary amnesia and we will know--we will know each other fully.  We will rejoice in the creatures God turned us into as we perhaps laugh over past times and see how He worked in us even then.  Even now.  

On this day, friends, may we shine for Jesus, love as He loves, and glorify Him above all.  That’s our purpose and reasonable sacrifice.  And the best part is that it’s not even a hard task to complete.  Let’s finish well, shall we?

...even as I am fully known.

  

Sigh.  This just happened.  

A few moments ago I was looking through my latest pictures and adding them to the program I use, Picasa, for editing purposes.  Picasa has as one of its features an identifying tool, where it labels the people in each photograph.  Depending on if there has already been a name attached to that face, Picasa will ask you to confirm that identity, create a new one, or give it a label for someone it thinks is being depicted.  Sometimes it gets it right; other times it suggests someone closely related to that soul.  Other times it can be downright comical or plain out crazy when it thinks one looks like a certain so-and-so in a given picture.

This tool from Picasa is quite handy for keeping me organized.  Sometimes I need to make a special gift or use someone’s face for something I am working on.  Being able to go to my People Album and have all of these images to choose from in a timely manner is great!

However…

However, the downside to this tool is that it wants to give a name to each face that is recognized by it and when a name isn’t assigned, it can bog down my folder, leaving me with hundreds of unidentified folks that just happened to be randomly in my pictures, or occasional photo bombers that I will probably never know, strangers, or…

Gulp.

Or folks whom I no longer wish to associate with or be reminded of later.  Those perhaps who once were important to me but now only serve as distasteful reminders of happier times or times best left in the past.  

To combat this, I have assigned--collectively--a name to these that combines them all into a one-person folder so that they don’t clog up my collection.  The name I have given to it?  Unknown.  

For the most part, it’s true.  The ones who show up in my pictures where large crowds may be are unknown to me.  And the ones who often show up but I have no relationship to are also easier to be nameless, rather than having a repertoire of hundreds of folks that I really don’t wish to have a personal file on.  Does that make sense?

So, back to the premise of today’s blog. I was struck this morning by seeing several family members that I have relegated to my “Unknown” label.  Saddened, even.  I gazed at some of these faces Picasa was trying to give an identity to and just hurt in my soul that these cousins, siblings, and others were now unknown to me.  Whether we lost touch, weren’t that close after all, or...or...whatever.  To me, for my own sanity and well-being, I put them in the “Unknown” file and wondered:  is someone out there doing this same thing to me?  Am I now a stranger when once I was so much more?  What a sad, sad state of affairs.

I Corinthians 13:12 speaks of this.  Read it with me?  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  

Friends, have you been fully known to someone who now is no longer a part of your world?  Or have you been cast aside as unworthy, no longer a vital part--or even a partial part, for that matter--of someone’s life?  Hurts, doesn’t it?  

Sigh.

Thankfully, though, we do have hope.  We have a promise.  One day, reconciliation will happen for those who are a part of the family of God.  The clouds will disappear.  The assumed and presumed will be made known, as will we.  No longer encumbered by the devil’s lies, we will know the truth and it will set us free.  Yes, I agree:  it is sad--it is maddening!!--that some of us are too stubborn and hard-hearted to get to realize these things on this side of eternity.  Too many of us have listened to the lies and the whispers that the devil spouts off, as he wreaks havoc in the lives of God’s children.  Oh the pain he has caused and still continues to maim us with!  But one day...one day, friends, we will know.  Face to face.  All will be revealed.

Until then?  Until then, we still will face hurt and we will still grieve over relationships and loved ones that prick our hearts at the most unexpected moments.  There will still be times that the devil uses these memories and Facebook postings from previous days to steal our joys.  I wish I had an answer for you for how to deal with this but it’s just different for each of us, right, the way that we handle haunts?  All I can do now is remind you again that as God’s children, one day this won’t be so.  One day all wrongs will be made right.  And as the song proclaims, what a day that will be!

Let’s pray!

Ahh, Father.  The marvels of technology continue to progress and we, Your children?  What do we do with these new-fangled “helps”?  Allow them to prick us and gouge at our already-tender hearts as we unknowingly, innocently even, go about a random act that suddenly turns into a minefield of emotions that we weren’t even aware of still existed in us?  

Lord, we have got to do better!  The devil is getting smarter and more conniving in his ways of stealing our joy so we have to be stronger and more proactive in our defense of self.  Using a tool like I just described is one way of self-preservation for me and hopefully it just might help another soul out there with hers.  Ultimately though, Lord, we know we need You to defend us, to preserve us, to save us.  When these fiery darts come out of the blue, I pray our shields of faith will be nearby to block them.  But when they aren’t, Father, will You please balm our wounds?  Will You remind us to seek You, Your Word, and talk to You about our injuries and find solace in Your care until that day, Lord, that day when we are set free?  I’d be ever so grateful if You did!

Thank You for being here for me, for my readers, for Your children.  We don’t always know how to express our feelings, God, but we thank You for the Holy Spirit Who intercedes for our groanings that are often too deep for words, as promised in Romans 8:26.  Thank You for Your Word, Father, and for Your love.  I love You too!

In the precious name of Christ Jesus I pray.  Amen!

Claritin Clear

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

I Corinthians 13:12

Confession time.  I used to watch a lot of secular movies and much of my conversation can be peppered with quotes from movies such as “Dumb and Dumber,” “Major Payne,” “Talladega Nights,” “A Few Good Men,” and many other titles that I could go on about but then you’d be reflecting on them instead of my words that I’m hoping will bring you some new smiles today.

Yesterday when I went to put on my glasses so I could see the tv, computer, reading material, and yes, even my hubby, I noticed how blurry--no, that’s not the right word.  How unclear they were.  Not quite foggy but hazy-like.  I’m sure you’ve seen those Claritin commercials, where they show an image and then pull a screen off of it to clear it up so that the colors are more vibrant and viewable.  Kind of like that.  My thoughts immediately went to the above passage that speaks of being able to see dimly.  “Yep, that’s me.  I can’t hardly see a thing through these specs so there’ll be no eyeballing anyone, Popeye.”  

Now, in years past, that last thought would have had me reflecting on those movie scripts and the hilarity that ensued upon watching them.  However, in my older (and let’s not forget wiser) age, instead my contemplations led me to consider how absolutely marvelous it’s going to be when my eyes are truly opened to all that our Lord has prepared for me.  No need for glasses, hindsight that is 20/20, nor squinting at objects that are either too far away or too close to my face to discern.  Well, there might be some shading of these pretty blues as I am overwhelmed by the brightness of The Son.  There may be some need for sunglasses to protect my eyes from the brilliance and radiance of Christ but...nah, that won’t be necessary either.  Oh, undoubtedly, He will shine!  But instead of shading myself, I will bask in His glory, in His exceptional brightness.  The fog will be lifted and the haze gone.  I shall see my Jesus, face to face, eye to eye, and what a day that will be!

Let’s pray!

Dear Lord, what a wonderful aid it is for me to have the opportunity to have glasses to help me see more clearly, to keep being able to read with, and to view the beauty of the surroundings You have placed all around me.  Thank You for the medical advancements that lift the blurriness when my allergies and old age act up so that I may still utilize the eyes You gave to me.  And thank You for my eyes, Father.  Of all the senses, I think this one is the best.

I anticipate with great pleasure, Lord God, the day when You call me home and I get to see without any barriers.  The day, Father, when all of my other senses will also be heightened and I can just revel in the wonder that is You.  Reminds me of a song we used to sing at Unity Baptist Church, Lord, “That Beautiful Country.”  

Thanks again for my vision and Your vision for Your children.  Ooh, now I’m thinking of another great song, Lord, “I Have Seen The Light” as my heart joyfully swells to the message in it.  You are so great and I cannot wait to be with You, eyes fully opened, mouth singing songs that actually sound pleasant with Your heavenly band.  Come soon?  I’m waiting, Lord.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

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THAT WONDERFUL COUNTRY BY CHARLES WYCUFF 1966(?)  E FLAT

I’VE BEEN READING ABOUT THAT WONDERFUL COUNTRY

WHERE THE STREETS ARE ALL MADE WITH PUREST OF GOLD

AND THE PEOPLE THERE LIVE IN BEAUTIFUL MANSIONS

AND NOBODY UP THERE WILL EVER GROW OLD

I’M ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST THE KING OF THAT COUNTRY

HE HAS MADE ME AN HEIR TO HEAVENS ABOVE

WHEN MY WORK IS DONE HE WILL CALL ME UP YONDER

WHERE FOREVER I’LL TELL HIS WONDERFUL LOVE

THERE WILL BE NO MORE GRIEF OR PAIN IN THAT COUNTRY

GOD HIMSELF SHALL DRY ALL THE TEARS FROM OUR EYES

WHILE THE AGES ROLL WE’LL BE LIVING IN SPLENDOR

IN THAT WONDERFUL HOME BEYOND THE BLUE SKIES

CHORUS

LEAD/TENOR/BASS

ALTO

IN THAT WONDERFUL LAND THAT COUNTRY BRIGHT AND FAIR

(IN THAT WONDERFUL COUNTRY)

NOW AWAITING ME YES NOW AWAITING ME

(NOW AWAITING FOR ME)

THERE’S A BEAUTIFUL HOME THAT’S FAR BEYOND COMPARE

(THERE’S A BEAUTIFUL MANSION)

SOON ITS GLORIES THERE ITS GLORIES I SHALL SEE

(SOON ITS GLORIES I’LL SEE)

(CHANGE TO BASS LEAD)

I’LL JOIN MY FRIENDS    AROUND THE THRONE

(I’LL JOIN MY LOVED ONES AROUND THE THRONE)

THEN I SHALL KNOW AS I AM KNOWN

(THEN I SHALL KNOW    AS I AM KNOWN)

REVERT TO LEAD/TENOR/BASS & ALTO

I’LL BE HAPPY I KNOW    UP THERE FOREVER MORE

(I’LL BE HAPPY FOR – EV – ER)

IN THAT HEAV’NLY HOME THERE    IN THAT WONDROUS LAND

(IN THAT WONDERFUL LAND)

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I Have Seen The Light

Robert Sterling and Chris Machen

I was a seeker for light in a dark world,
I looked for truth but settled for lies.
I had been blinded, I couldn't see
Till the Star in Bethlehem's sky opened my eyes.

I have seen the Light shining in the darkness,
Bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
I have seen the Light whose holy name is Jesus,
His kingdom is forever; He reigns on Heaven's throne!

There in a manger, an innocent baby;
Who could believe He was the One;
I can believe it, I know it's true;
He changed my life; He is the light; He is God's Son!

I have seen the Light shining in the darkness,
Bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
I have seen the Light whose holy name is Jesus,
His kingdom is forever; He reigns on Heaven's throne!
We must tell the world what we’ve seen today in Bethlehem!
He`s the promised King; we bow down and worship Him!
Worship Christ The King!

I have seen the Light shining in the darkness,
Bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn.
I have seen the Light whose holy name is Jesus,
His kingdom is forever; He reigns on Heaven's throne!