Joy

Well, I just wrote a short blog and it mysteriously, erased itself, at least a mystery to me. I don't think I can ever capture it's genius again:)
I was sharing about the ordinary day, in the middle of my not yet tidy kitchen, in the middle of nowhere. I was pondering the ordinary things we do, for ourselves, for others, just because, and even we don't remember them. Mundane, perhaps boring, perhaps, shall we say, menial. I used to really hate the "land of mundane". I wanted to do something important, something profound, something heroic, something great! But, something changed in me, as time has gone by and I find, that in the mundane, is a sweetness of His company. He has invaded the land of my mundane, and it has disappeared. Nothing is ordinary anymore, and I don't mind (much) if what I do is completely un-noticed, because, of course, it isn't.
If the main calling in our lives, is the upward call, which is really, the call to the deepest life with Him, the call to intimacy, mundane is an excellent facilitator for this Holy project of His. If He doesn't mind doing dishes with me, doing laundry with me, sitting with me, cooking with me, shoveling snow, cutting grass, feeding critters and doing yucky jobs, well then, I have the very best Companion of ALL TIME!!!!
If anyone, can get inside and tweek our attitudes, it's Jesus. He doesn't mind those yucky jobs!
This morning I was pondering jasper. I had read that the walls of the New Jerusalem are 72 yards thick and made of jasper. That's a lot of Jasper!
Jasper is a clear precious substance, that's not a metal, nor a precious stone, but it is a substance formed from something ordinary, which after time, pressure, and outside influences, is transformed into a whole new substance. Jasper is clear, like glass, some say with a green tinge, some say with a goldish tinge, some say it glitters. It is clear, see through. Can you imagine how cool these kinds of walls would look? Wow. It is said to represent the glory of God.
Just imagine with me for a minute, that the New Jerusalem, is a picture of the transformed you some day. It's a picture of you, with Him, in utterly amazing beauty. Your body is become jasper, and the light, the Light, Himself, shines through, because, the ordinary, has been transformed into something that lets light and glory shine through. It's better than being a tabernacle, or a temple. It's a city, called a bride, called New Jerusalem. It's another, deeper metaphor.
I was picturing the streets of gold, clear, shiny, polished, slippery. I was wondering if you could slide on them, and well, it was like I was walking with Jesus there, and we both began sliding all over the place on those slippy streets. I laughed so hard. They are very slippy streets, not so we fall, but because, we love sliding together.
Did you ever consider that you may just have too sober an idea of just how much joy that God intends for us to have with Him, and it can begin with your hands in the sink doing dishes?
Since I was in the place of picturing this amazing place, I wanted to see the source of the River of Life. I slipped there, sliding with Jesus, and we got down and crawled and looked under the throne, breathing a bit hard from the sliding fun. I looked up and saw it dripping, drip, drip, from the very underneath base of the seat of the throne. Then I wondered, about the throne actually. Jesus said, I never sit on this throne and I'm never off the throne. This seemed pretty contradictory, but, it's a way of Him saying, He IS what the throne represents. Just think about that. He's in you, living, He is enthroned in you. Within Him, is the source of the River, and it spills out, in a deliberately created River way, not eroded there, made there on purpose. In you, is all this developing, by His power at work in you. The Kingdom of God, comes through frail flesh, like a freight train, bursting through newsprint, by His gracious transformation. Isn't that AWESOME!
We are lit up, by Him, who is living Light. In this city, there is no need for the sun, and there is no night. "...and there shall be no more night: they have no need for lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will illuminate them and be their light, and they shall reign forever and ever..." (Rev. 22:5) Light easily seen through jasper walls, through transformed substance-us.
I imagined drinking the water, as it formed it's first drop from beneath that throne. Of course, Jesus and I keeping in the sliding mode, slipped into the River and slid into it's watercourse, and into it's beautiful crystal clear depths together. I'm still reeling from the mind blowing morning! "...and let everyone come who is thirsty, and whoever earnestly desires to do it, let him come, take, appropriate, and drink the water of Life without cost..." (Rev. 22:17b)
I propose that we need a serious drink, and it's ALWAYS available, for FREE:)
Not just drink, but eat too. "...Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy (priceless spiritual) wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and you earnings for what does not satisfy. Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness ( the profusion of spiritual joy)!..." (Isa. 55:1,2)
I propose a toast to Him, let's drink, by faith, right now, some of His free wine, and let's eat together, some of this bread, He baked for us, and let's drink deep, right now, of that water, that River, that Life, that is Him, that Light, that is Life. Let's feast, all the time, and let's have profuse joy! Let's not be malnourished.
I could write so much!! I am filled up and I have to say, that the adventures of an inner life with Him, can be so astonishingly, grand.