life

It seemed a great way to launch into a New Year this morning.  I drove over to Diascund Reservoir and opened my Bible by the shoreline under a fresh blue sky.  On the way I passed an unusual sight; a score or more of vultures perched overhead in a dead tree by the roadside...wouldn't budge even when I hit my car horn.  At the reservoir I was entertained by two other waterbirds scooting low over the surface.  They took turns chasing each other and occasionally dipping into the water.  Clearly they were playing games and enjoying themselves.  I thought about the life of joy that God has made for us.  I think we were intended to be more like the water birds, but sometimes we hang around dead trees like the vultures.  With the Lord, it's all about life.  Sometimes with us, it's all about death...or delaying death...or avoiding death.  We need to embrace life and living and reflecting the life of the living Lord within.  Paul shared some of these thoughts with the Corinthians in the second letter when he taught them about the Spirit in chapters 2-4.  He said, in verse 14 of chapter 2, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."  And in chapter 3, verses 17-18, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

We know the God of Life, who has conquered death and is breathing life into our lives.  As we launch into a New Year today it is good to be reminded that there is joy in living and, like the water fowl, we were intended to soar and play and reflect the light of the Lord and the fragrance of his presence.