A Friend, a Tapestry, and Skeleton Bones

I learned something in the Revelation Bible study I did recently.  I learned that when the Scriptures talk about rejoicing, many times the word being used indicates an ecstatic joy that results in spinning around in circles….   and I learned that that impulse I sometimes have to spin when I am happy – to raise my hands to the sky and laugh and sing – well, that is a God-given instinct – a reaction to deep-down, heart-born, bubbling-over joy that you don’t know how to contain…  it is a response to a Creator Who fills me at times with a joy so inexpressible that all I can do is laugh (or, if in the company of others who might be alarmed, simply smile and nod…)

So really, SKELETON BONES???

What on earth do skeleton bones and laughing and spinning with joy have in common?  I have been just eating up all of these songs by John Mark McMillan lately.  And if anyone gets a chance to listen to any of his music, I was telling my mom tonight – some of the lyrics in the songs fill me with such a joy and a glorious expectation that I literally want to sing and laugh aloud at the thought of what is coming… at the expectation of an ETERNITY spent with my Maker, the One Who WANTS me with everything in Him – Who laid it all down for me – Who takes the time in all of His glory and slendor and majesty to kneel down beside me, take me in His arms, wipe my tears away, love on me, provide for my needs, care for and protect my babies in a manner I never could, lift my head when I am my weakest and so ashamed of who I am, remind me I am His and that HE finds me to be beautiful…

So back to the skeleton bones –

“Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity on the lips of the found, and grave-stones roll to the rhythm of the sound of You.” 

One of these days, that is what will happen – grave stones will roll as the Son of Glory calls, skeleton bones will rise and be covered with sinew and flesh, and an entire, mighty, vast army will stand and sing to the One Who redeemed their souls from the grave.  And do you think the world reads this kind of writing and says, “You’re nuts”?   Sure they do.  And maybe I am  😉  But at some point, when the realization sets in that this is REALITY, that this isn’t a game – that this life is not a song and a dance about who is right and who is wrong – it is a true journey to an eternity with or without Christ, and a true love relationship with this One Who chose to place His mark on us and call us His own – to seal us with His own Spirit – and when you realize that what John saw in the book of Revelation, and what Isaiah saw, and what so many others saw is just a SMALL FRACTION of a picture of WHO and WHAT God is… when the reality of ALL THAT and more sets in, well, someone wondering if you’re a little off your rocker doesn’t phase you much anymore.

And the tapestry  (This is also where the friend comes in!)

All these random thoughts… so sorry to confuse my readers…  But it all has a point – really, it does!   Today, as I was listening to some of these songs on the way home from work, I began to reflect on the day, the week, even some of the recent years, and for some reason, people began to come to mind, and as each person did, I began to see just a glimpse of why they were there, or how a particular person can touch my life at a specific point in time, and somehow, in that chance meeting, or in that brief season of life, the Lord accomplishes very specific things that would not – could not – have been accomplished in any other way.  In a tapestry, there are colors that are very specifically woven together, and they stay together throughout the pattern.  There are colors that are woven together here and there, sometimes crossing paths, sometimes not.  And then there are colors that touch, intertwine in one spot, and then move in different directions to take their place in the pattern.  And as the artist weaves, he or she knows exactly what needs to go where to produce the end result they are trying to achieve.

As this scenario played itself out in my mind, I began to see the hands of the Artist, weaving in and out, putting things where they need to go… and the realization and the beauty of it all just hit me like a ton of bricks; and if you had been with me, you definitely would have thought I was nuts, because I just had to laugh out loud!  And if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was driving, I just might have spun around, too!  Am I saying we are controlled like puppets on a string, and everything we do and say is controlled and ordered by God, and we have no choice in the matter?  No way.  But somehow, in His sovereignty, whether we choose to or not, in the end, we will do things HIS WAY.  Somehow.  in His loving kindness, because we are so precious… in our choosing, failing, and succeeding, He has MADE THE WAY.  It is marked CLEARLY by the CROSS, and there IS NO OTHER WAY.  And the remarkable beauty of it all – it is HE Who will be sure to KEEP US in the way.  HE will weave the colors in and out, bring the right strings across one another at the right time, alter the path, change the direction, and cause us to walk in THE WAY He has ordered for us.

So, as random as this blog is tonight, it is probably a truer picture of who and what I am at this point in life than many of my previous….  I am a wife, mother, daughter, friend, teacher, crazy-woman, whatever – I am on a mission to somehow share the deep passion in my heart for a living God Who has made everything He is all about us.  To somehow take that OUT OF MY BODY and put it INTO YOURS so that you can FEEL this thing in me that literally wants to leap out of my skin and love the world –  You are so DEEPLY and DIVINELY and THOROUGHLY LOVED.  Just TAKE that love, GRAB ONTO IT, and RUN with it!!    Go ahead and sing the songs that might sound crazy to someone else but carry so much meaning for you.  Laugh out loud when you are happy!  Spin with joy if you want to!  You might scare your kids…. or they might join you! 🙂

Love to each and every one.  And if something doesn’t make sense, well, just bear in mind it IS 2 a.m…..   xo