It’s A Beauty-Full Life

Have you ever been watching a movie or television show that had an interesting, maybe even an intriguing plot and suddenly something happened to interrupt it? Maybe it was cut short by a phone call, a power outage, an appointment to keep, an injured child, a pet with a bladder emergency, an oven timer. Remember how you felt?

It could even have been a foolish sitcom that has little worth in the grand scope of things, but still if you’re anything like me, you might get slightly bothered by your inability to know how it turns out. Sad to say that even cheap entertainment can motivate our attention more than things of eternal value.

Or how about the incredibly woven novel, that has more twists and turns than a creeping grapevine. If you’re an avid reader you could find yourself being drawn back to the pages at all hours of the day and night just to get to the end. Or like a few people I know, you might even read the end first to save yourself the suspense!

Well how about if I take it a step further. Have you ever watched re-runs of previously aired TV shows that you’ve already seen? Or read a favorite book over again even though you already know how it ends? What about some classic films that are shown every year, like the “Wizard of Oz”, “A Christmas Carol” or one of my favorites “It’s A Wonderful Life”? Do you still stay tuned until the very end? Are you still sometimes amazed at how they can make you laugh or cry or even surprise you again and again?

We are all designed to want closure, the whole picture, the final outcome, the rest of the story. But then that makes sense because we were designed in the image of the one true and eternal God who IS the beginning and the end. He wants us to have a yearning for completeness. In fact, as Brooke so aptly stated in yesterday’s post… (and by the way I continue to be thrilled to see how God weaves a continuum right here on this blog site) … God chose to compile 66 books within the Bible to tell us the whole story.

It would be truly remarkable if we could know everything God wants us to know by just reading through the Bible once. Of course that’s not the case. The tremendous wonder of it though is that we have the freedom, the privilege, the gift of it at our fingertips, to pluck and pull its many threads and weave them into our lives.

The very best story lines that keep us coming back for more are valued because of what’s shared within them. They impact our life, our being, our thinking, feeling, choosing, and doing. They provide hope, joy, contentment, soul-searching and heart-changing motivation, amidst tension and mystery.

So it is with God and His Story. He gave us a grand overview, true accounts, believable yet extraordinary characters, lots of details, the best of instructions, and astounding truths and promises. He shared more than enough to impact our lives forever. He did all that so we could know the beginning and the end. He did it so we could be woven into the completed story of how His grace and mercy carries us safely to the conclusion.

If you could be an extra on a movie set, just waiting to be called in to play a part, maybe even the understudy for the lead role, you’d want to study the script well to remember all your lines. You’d want your appearance to resemble the part you are to play. You’d want to be alert and eager, always ready to hear and respond to the director’s next words. You might just live and breathe the best parts even in your “off” time.

In the fictional movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” a likeable, though not authentic angel helps a kindhearted but utterly despondent businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. It changed the man’s whole perspective to see that the value of his life was in what he had done for others. With a fresh taste of gratitude in his mouth he could declare “It’s A Wonderful Life”!

The goodness of God toward us and others lives in the pages of the Bible. Our faith is built through reading, hearing, learning, and believing it. The very Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus. His life, death and resurrection fulfilled His vital parts here.

He left the script behind for us. He wants us to be His understudies.

In John 14:12 He said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

He loves us, all of us, so much, that he wants to make His Story part of our story. He wants it to be one that people will want to see not just for the first time but gladly experience over and over again.

Let’s live and breathe His master screenplay every chance we get. I’m thinking He might even approve of a name for this epic. ~ “It’s A Beauty-Full Life” ~

Gratefully HIS,

Jan