answered prayer . . .

i'm so thankful that the Lord of my life is someone who hears

and answers my prayer.

i willingly and purposefully place my trust in Him.

markers . . .

today i went to the beechwood cemetery in search of the graves of my grandparents and great-grandparents.

i had the coordinates of the burial site and off i went.

i passed sir robert borden's grave . . . and the many graves of other dignitaries.

beautiful trees full of spring blossoms hung over the landscape that was quilted with the shadows cast by the headstones.

the path i was following became more and more narrow.

finally i found the right area.

here, there were no impressive headstones . . . nothing prestigious.

i searched for awhile, trying to find their spot and finally after counting the number of stones in the appropriate row, i found it . . . or, at least the place it was supposed to be.

the marker with the names engraved on it was barely visible.

grass had grown over it.

as i pulled the sod back, i uncovered just a small plaque, barely visible in the ground.

this tiny plaque was all that was left.

i love to visit a graveyard. it's a thoughtful place.

when i saw the graves of my ancestors, i thought about the lives they lived.

their childhood, their friends, their school days, their loves, their marriage, their babies, their adulthood, their joys, their dreams, their hardships, their entire lives.

their lives . . . not unlike my parents, or mine.

not unlike the lives that my children will live.

and now, a tiny stone in the ground is left to commemorate it all . . . a stone grown over with grass.

of course memories remain . . . but for how many generations?

maybe two . . . at best three.

it really makes me take inventory of what's important in life.

and what is most important is my relationship with God.

He knew me before i was even born . . . and only He knows the hour of my death.

i came into this world alone, with nothing . . . and i leave it alone, with nothing.

the closest relationship i can have here on earth cannot measure up to the importance of having a relationship with Him.

with Jesus, i will never be alone. He is always with me . . . here on earth and in death. He is the "constant" in my life. my rock. my source of life - now and in eternity.

second to that in importance is my relationship with the people who touch my life.

my family, my friends . . . and anyone else divinely appointed for me to cross paths with.

at death, everything is stripped away and only those two things will account for anything.

in eternity it is "relationship" that will count.

Jesus said,

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

that's it. it's that simple.

Lord, You know my comings and goings.

You know my thoughts from afar off. You know me altogether.

may my every thought be rooted in You.

with Your mighty, but gentle breath, blow away the chaff from my thoughts, Lord.

remove foolishness far from me.

give me the desire to pursue the eternal and not be caught up in the temporal.

and above all, give me Your love to motivate all that i

say, think and do.

lure me, by Your love, to my own secret place every day

that i might know You, and be filled up with Your presence.

amen.

back to the basics . . .

what do we really need to live our lives?

. . . need . . . not want.

how little we could actually live with!

how much we could live without!

in days gone by, people didn't worry about adorning their homes with "stuff."

there were no shopping sprees at homesense.

it was the important things that decorated a home . . .

family, friends, laughter, love . . . that was enough.

the brick and stone was only what sheltered the real home.

it provided what was needed to live.

clean, pure water to drink and wash with . . .

healthy, untampered-with food - organic in the purest sense . . .

simple foods and simple choices . . .

fuel for warmth and cooking . . .

and most important of all - faith

and recognition that it is God who provides it all.

it is God who gives us health and strength to enjoy life.

it is God who gives us our very breath.

god in a box . . .

have you ever seen a documentary on filmmaking?

have you ever taken the time to watch the "behind the scenes" extras that they have on many dvds?

if you have, you've seen the director at work with his entourage of support people hustling about - outside the boundaries of the "production-eye."

you see microphones, lifted high on metal arms above the actors, ready to capture the dialogue.

you see cameramen focusing in at every angle.

the film that is the end result does not capture the "big picture."

the "big picture" cannot confine all of the activity and planning and masterminding that goes on beyond what we will see on the screen at the theatre.

this whole picture makes me think of what goes on in the spirit world.

we are like the actors, playing out our lives, scene by scene, on the earth.

and God is orchestrating it all behind the scenes.

i think we would be astounded to see life beyond the limitations

of our miniscule understanding - beyond the limitations of our five senses.

we need spiritual eyes and divine discernment to understand what we

cannot see

cannot touch

cannot hear

cannot smell

cannot feel.

so much that happens only really happens because God has allowed it, or orchestrated it for some purpose.

sadly, we humans have a great need to be able to explain everything.

to define everything within the scope of our limited understanding.

we need to "box in" reasons why things happen.

we need human, carnal perimeters for life.

it's sad that we cannot just have the "faith of a little child"

in so many of life's circumstances.

i can only pray that God will give me discernment

and the eyes to see behind the scenes . . .

to see His purposes at work in the world around me

and in my own life.

appointment with death . . .

i was driving through the city today

and went by the intersection of riverside and baseline roads.

planted into the earth at that intersection, i saw a wooden cross

adorned with flowered wreaths.

whose life did that cross represent? whose place did it mark?

it clearly enshrined the place where someone died . . . someone who was loved.

it marked the place on earth where someone's days on earth were left behind.

it marked the place where, with one last breath, a soul entered into eternity.

i'm sure they had no idea, when they got out of bed that morning that "today" would be their last day on earth.

it just was.

it was the day of their appointment with death.

just as God's word says . . . every human being has an appointed day to die.

(hebrews 9:27)

there is no "fairness" in death. we cannot package it up and define it.

life truly is a vapour . . . that appears for awhile and then vanishes away.

(james 4:14)

i want to live each day saying, "if the Lord wills, i shall live and do this or that."

(james 4:15)

the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

blessed be His name forever . . . for eternity.

this is a photo that i took last fall

when i was exploring a graveyard in ottawa.

i like graveyards.

i like walking through them reading the tombstones

and imagining the lives that they mark.

graveyards should make people think.

graveyards bring us face to face with eternity.

i think that anything that makes us think eternally

is good.

after all . . .

eternity is what is really important.