As soon as the calendar year turns over, our social media is bombarded with beach scenes calling us to live in the sun during the winter months.  We even dream of sunshine..at least I do.  If you live in the sunshine, there’s probably no place you’d rather be!  If you live in a place that is overcast and cold at this time of the new year, then you dream of being in the sun.  We tell each other all the places we’d rather be than where we are.  We’re human, that way.

Let’s go another road.  How would you rather look?  I have experienced life enough to hear curly headed people wish for straight hair, blonds wish they were brunettes, the short want to be taller, the tall what to be shorter, the fair skin want less freckles, the dark skin wants to be lighter, the large what to be small and the thin want to larger.  The muscled want to be more muscled.  And it goes on and on, never being satisfied with our physical appearances to a fault.  We spend way too much thinking on this avenue at this time of year, as well.  Just throw the stale Christmas cookies away and listen…

What if we took as much time thinking about the outside and pondered about the inside?  Who are we?  Where would we really rather be?  What gives us the most peace, no matter where we physically live?  Where do we “live” spiritually?  Who do we love talking to the most?  Who gives life to our soul?  Who takes our breath away?  Who would we rather be with and talk to when no other person on earth is around?  Who is the One and Only who knows us best and wants the best for us because of His relentless, unchangeable, merciful, gracious love?  Who do we talk to first each morning before anyone else?  Who brings calm when we are overwhelmed by overthinking? Who is it we long to be with most of all?  Who do we eagerly serve all day long and into the night, without tiring, simply because of Who we are serving?

“One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.”

Where would you rather be?

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 84, The Message

A Korah Psalm

^1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

^3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

^5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

^8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

^10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

TRUTH:  “I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.  All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory.”

Basking in the SONshine is where I’d rather be…

Proverb 25:25-28, The Message

Like a cool drink of water when you’re worn out and weary
    is a letter from a long-lost friend.

²⁶ A good person who gives in to a bad person
    is a muddied spring, a polluted well.

²⁷ It’s not smart to stuff yourself with sweets,
    nor is glory piled on glory good for you.

²⁸ A person without self-control
    is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.

WISDOM:  Be SONshine to others who are living under the overcast of loneliness and doubt without God.  A self-controlled person is a person who has given control to God.

Abba Father,

No matter where we physically live on this earth, you send your shining Light and Life to the dark places that can occasionally overcome our souls.  Your Light always pierces the darkness and eliminates it altogether.  I love that about You!  You are the One I long for each morning and the One I thank before my head hits the pillow at night.  You are the One who listens to my ramblings and guides me to where I rather be.  Your desires for me become my desires in agreement with your will and purpose.  Yes!  Better is one day with you than a thousand elsewhere!

In Jesus Name, Amen