Thursday, March 01, 2007

Revival Upstairs In My Little Room


Okay, okay... I confess...

This morning Tom asked if I wanted to go with him to pick up some med's from the doctor's office and then maybe we could visit the thrift store (in a very busy--traffic,traffic-- part of town) and look around. But I told him, no, I did not want to go to either of those places.

He asked, "What do you want to do?" and that's when I whined like a mere mortal.

I groaned, "I want to move out of this state where it snows all the time. I want this house to be 100 percent decluttered. And I want this house to be sold so we can live in a cottage in the country. And I want it all now."

He chuckled. "Is that all?"

I said, "Yes, that's all. No, wait!" And as I continued up the stairs to our kitchen, alone, I continued my list (talking to myself). And I said...

...I want the sun to shine again and I want local weather men to stop promising sunshine when they cannot deliver...
...I want a yard big enough for a clothesline and I want to sit outside in the sun...
...I want my Mary Tyler Moore dvd's to stop taking so long to get here...
...I want Winter to be over and the sun to shine again...
...I want to be able to drink yummy caffeinated coffee seven days a week and never get a headache from it...
...I want to be able to eat Mc Donald's Happy Meals without fearing they'll take two years off of my life every time I do...
... and did I mention I want the sun to shine again?

Well, by then I had a headache (oh but why?), but my coffee was ready (decaf, natch), so I doctored it up with cappucino powder and dragged myself upstairs to my room and sat at my desk which faces my three windows framing miles of mirky, grey skies.

And I waited.



And while Barlow Girl sang these words from You Led Me:

Feel the sunlight on my face
You have brought me through this place
Jesus, Jesus, You found me...

... that's when I spied the six Canadian geese in their V sailing just outside my window, so close that I saw their white bellies and smiled.... And the second 'Jesus, Jesus, You found me' swelled with all the harmonies and I knew-- Revival -- once again! Up there in my little pink upstairs room, of all places. No need to sail over icy streets to find a church or get keys from a harried pastor and then sit inside a cold room with pews or wait until a visiting pastor arrives months from now for Revival Week. No, suddenly He was there in my room again and my heart leapt to my throat and grateful tears stung the corners of my eyes...

... and no longer did I want to be anywhere else on Earth. When Revival hits you, Love surrounds you and shines lights which make Life clearer. And you remember there's a time for everything--and this is the time to just enjoy God and become stronger from what you've been given... and later you will pass it, Him, along.

Some people believe you can just find Revival in church and that it happens only when you let yourself become run-down and burned-out after 6 months or (shudder) 6 years (not realizing the key is in never wandering too far away). But God will not be kept like an animal in a zoo, not even a religious zoo, uh, building. No, He will go where He wants to go, even if it means visiting little pink upstairs rooms looking out over miles of grey winter skies... even to a plain ol' middle-aged woman who tries never to toddle into the least dry desert, but who waits for Him here daily.

Yes, He will.

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