A Taste of heaven on earth...

In "Other" Words


"Be such a person and live such a life,
That if every person,
Was a person like you, and every life a life like yours,
This Earth would be God's Paradise."
~Phillips Brooks~

Wow! What an ideal to strive for - perfection. I honestly doubt I'll ever make it in this life.

Take Friday for instance. We were having our annual Open House Christmas Party at the parsonage. We've only been at Gospel Tabernacle for three and a half months so this was the first time we had a party like this here, though it has been a tradition for our family for many years in whatever community we happened to live at the time.

We wanted the congregation members to feel welcome to visit us in our home, so I baked cookies, decorated and cleaned house, beginning a week before the event so it wouldn't be too stressful on the day of the party.

Even though I tried to do a little at a time, on the day of the party I still had a major emotional melt down. "I'm never going to do this again. I hate parties!" (I ranted like a woman in labor...LOL!)

Yet when the party started and our guests began to arrive, I realized how much I loved having them in my house. I thoroughly enjoyed being the hostess and circulating among my friends. I remarked to my husband later that we need to do this more often. (I said that after the birth of our first son too and we ended up having two more children... Uh-oh!)

At the party someone asked me if I'd had a melt down preparing for the party and I had to admit my flaws to them. But it made me realize once again that I'm not the only one who gets stressed out.

The world is already filled with others just like me - flawed human beings who are saved by the grace of God, struggling to live for Him and to grow in Him each day. I need to be ready to hug, love, support and pray for them whenever the Lord brings them across my path.

I may never be perfect and there may never be paradise on this earth until the Lord returns and perfects us. But if I strive to care for others the way He did; if I strive to understand that they are flawed like me and love them unconditionally, I might just be able to make a difference. I will get to experience a taste of His heaven on earth.

Have a blessed holiday season and may your life touch someone in need today!

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