Been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. . . yet here we all are, doing what we always do. I am so interested in how the themes of life keep coming up over and again–for me, it’s music, God, plants, travel, the color red, laundry, family, freedom, and various neuroses that I won’t bother sharing ’cause they’re boring. These themes are like bees in my bonnet. Oh, you have themes, too. What are they–can you name them? What just keeps rising to the top day after day, year after year, decade after decade, like a homing device? These are the signposts on our thought-life’s landscape. They can make or break us, if we let them. They are not us (we are so much more, and themes can change with some effort), but they define us by how we respond to them. Powerful, these themes.
I wonder what themes will continue into eternity? For those of us in Christ, our eternal life has already begun. We will change, yes, but we will always be, so we will always have themes. (The best part: laundry and neuroses stay behind!) God will use our themes to guide us into wherever He is working; Scripture calls us kings and priests unto God forever. We are to reign in life with Him right now, too, bringing His power and love into whatever we’re in. In the meantime, won’t it be weird to remember our earthly themes against the backdrop of glory, when we’ve finally come into our calling?
Themes ensure we do what we were made to do. I just watched the movie Whale Rider, which shows the powerful themes of a Christ-like girl who perseveres through painful opposition to live out her destiny, to everyone’s benefit.
I’m taking trips this year, one to New Zealand, where Whale Rider takes place. Travel breaks you out of what you think you know so well, gives adventures that build you up to look forward with a new, can-do attitude, helps you see through people to their soul underneath and to breathe in and out with wonder, feeling truly alive. I’m looking forward to that change of perspective.
Getting out of the norm teaches generosity, compassion, faith and self-giving love, if you let it. Our Father is so faithful to do new things when He takes me out of my own country; the last time He flew me across an ocean in 1996, I met His Son and gave Him my heart in exchange for major forgiveness and a whole new graceful life. I can only wonder what He’s got for me this year, with two trips in a scant two months of each other.
Why New Zealand? Paul and I find ourselves strangely drawn to discover it for ourselves–enough to drive around in it for two weeks in April. God knows why. In May, I’m off to Poland to a state-home full of children who need to know Whose they really are. Ironically, while I’m there, my first live performance in months will be in a Polish coffee shop! Hope you can make it! The CD will be ready by then, so I will plant some bushes in what I desperately pray is fertile soul-soil. I’m thinking about 900 or so. . . there’s that plants theme again.
Christ is reigning on high. Oh, I want Him to rule in me now. I want Him to live radically in me, totally pouring out the truth and love of God, waking up His bride to expectant exuberance, for He is coming soon! I can’t do all that myself–all those life-themes tend to crowd out this all-important one–so I am totally keen on yielding to the power of Immanuel.
