The Weight of the Snow

A February storm swept through our mountains yesterday and deposited clumps of heavy snow on the branches of the Ponderosa pines surrounding the house.  The branches, weighed down with their burdens, were bent, almost touching the ground. 

But this morning a new world greeted me through the living room windows.  The sky is the brightest blue I have ever seen.  The sun is kissing the earth with its warmth and making blue shadows on the snow blanket.  The trees, still bent and burdened, are beginning to feel the warmth of the sun.  As each branch is touched with the sun’s rays, it begins to shed the burden that has threatened to break it in two.

It’s a beautiful sight to watch each of those branches release its burden to the sun and unbend its body, becoming straight and alive again.

 

This morning’s unburdening is gentle.  One by one the trees awake from the nightmare of yesterday and with the help of the sun, the snow slips to the ground.

There are times when the wind blows after a storm and the unburdening is not so gentle.  The wind whips through the trees and shakes the branches to release their snow cargo.  This too, is healthy.  As the trees deposit the snow under their branches, they also deposit the dead pine needles that have been helping to hold that snow in place. 

Have you ever thought that our lives are like those of the trees.  When storms come and deposit burdens of worry and frustration on us, we’re bent.  Sometimes those burdens are so heavy that we feel we can’t move.  Sometimes we feel that we will break in two like the branches.  Once in a while we do break, whether it’s our heart that breaks or whether the life we’d planned breaks apart.  But along with the trials, there are days that we have sunshine to warm us and allow the burdens to melt and slide away.

I love being able to see God work in the world around me.  Since my imagination works overtime, it’s easy for me to make the connection between what I see with my eyes, and what I believe God is telling me through those events.

God’s love is warming my heart when I’ve gone through a storm and picked up a burden that weighs me down.  I see Him melting that cold heart of mine in order to allow the burdens to slip into His hands – His nail scarred hands.

There are also times when I require a strong wind to shake the dead stuff that’s keeping me from releasing those burdens and cleaning up the branches of my life. 

God is a God of love, who will do whatever it takes to help us see Him in our trials – but only if we ask Him to.  If we just want an easy life – if we don’t want to grow – if we're not willing to bend with the trials, we'll  probably never really appreciate the warmth of the sunshine or the cleansing winds that God puts into our lives.

Isn't it amazing what a snow storm will teach us?

Heaven is our Home

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)

Remember the hymn, "There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God."  Maybe that place could be called Heaven.

Heaven IS a place.   According to the Bible, heaven is an actual place – not an idea, or a feeling.  It is the place where God is and His presence is made known.

In Matthew 6:9 we find Jesus telling his disciples how to pray.  He begins the prayer with “Our Father who art in Heaven” – sounds like a place to me.

In 1 Kings 8:46 Solomon is pleading with God for the Children of Israel, He prays, and asks God, "then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people."  

We also find that it is God who has prepared Heaven for us. 

Jesus speaks of heaven as the kingdom which has been prepared for us from before the creation of the world. Again, then, we see it is a literal place where God is intent on blessing us.

Matthew 25 tells us “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”

And in Hebrews 11:16 we read, “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

We learn that Heaven will be our home

Jesus prepared a room for us in God’s home.  Remember when Jesus told his disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  John 14:1-3

This is really interesting, especially if we look at it from the culture that Jesus was a part of.  In those days, in Jewish culture, families lived in a sort of compound together and when a young man became engaged he would add a room on to his family house – his father’s house.  He worked on it until it was ready and then would go and get his bride and bring her back to her “new” home.  Jesus was looking at believers as His bride.  When Jesus ascended into heaven, He was going to prepare a home for us – His bride.  

Another aspect of heaven is that it will be a celebration – there will be a great banquet – a dinner – a feast.

Consider your memories, when you were young, do you remember how you prepared, when company was coming to dinner?  If we were celebrating something special – Easter, a birthday, a baptism, it was even more memorable. Mom had the house looking extra beautiful.  We all had to work hard.  Cleaned house, set up tables, ironed tablecloth, set out good china, took silverware out of special box, cooked all day.  How about you?  

God has prepared a banquet for us!  He’s done all of the work.  All we have to do is accept the invitation and put on the right clothes. 

I remember again that everyone in my family had to dress up for that special dinner, didn’t you?  Do you remember your mother telling you that you had to wash your face or, in my case, put on shoes? 

In the Bible there is a parable about the person who tries to come to a banquet of the King without the correct clothes.  It was an interesting analogy to me.  We are clothed in the blood of Jesus.  Jesus died and washed our robes.  He took the stain of sin away.  We can’t come to the feast in heaven unless our lives are washed clean by His blood, unless we are His disciples.  

Galatians 3:27 “ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”

Isn’t that beautiful?  Many will come and take their places at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.  That includes people from every nation. 

There's a picture in our dining room.  It’s there to help us remember that God has invited us to dinner.  He has invited us to come home and eat with Him.  The artist really put a lot of thought into this picture and although it’s just one person’s imagination of what our heavenly feast will be like, it’s meaningful. The table goes on and on for miles, signifying that many are invited.  He also shows that only the best is good enough for this dinner – He depicts elegant gold plates and silverware. 

But the seats around the table are empty – the heavenly feast is waiting until the trumpet blows and all of God’s people come home.

And if all this isn’t exciting enough – do you know that the guest of honor will be Jesus – the one who died to make it all possible.  Jesus will eat and drink with us.  At the last supper He said, "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Heaven is a place – a place God has prepared for us – and a place where we’ll celebrate with Jesus at a huge banquet table. And best of all, Heaven is our home.