Things I'd never thought I'd say

I'd never thought I'd use thirty to describe my age. When I was younger, thirty was seriously old and eternity away. It was supposed to take forever to come. Now, I'm thirty-one, feeling kinda old. The eternity just arrived.

I'd never thought I'd be single by age thirty. In my perfect little plan, I was to marry at twenty-two, have two children by twenty-four, and live happily ever after. Well, it seems like God had other plans for me.

I'd never thought I'd be shy of my age. Not that I don't like my age, I just don't like the "You mean you're that old!!" statements. They make me feel like I'm a hundred.

I'd never thought I'd wish time would slow down. When I was younger, I craved growing up so I do things like grownups. They looked so independent. Now I'm grownup, I don't see anything fancy about it. There's no independence. Just many responsibilities.

I'd never thought I'd want the youthfulness to stay. Just to linger for a while. So I don't have to wrinkle in the face, or use more cream on my face, or lose the energy. Especially the energy. I still want to have all that energy and more so I can do all I can without struggling much.

Oh well, so time flies, and I find myself doing and saying things that I'd never thought I'd say. I guess it is true - it all comes in the sweet by and by.

Ain't got time to die

When I was in university, our choir director once taught us a song:

Lord, I keep so busy serving my Jesus,
Keep so busy serving my Jesus,
Keep so busy serving my Jesus,
Ain't got time to die.

Coz it takes all of my time to praise my Jesus,
All of my time to praise my Lord,
If I don't praise Him, the rocks gonna cry out,
"Glory and Honour! Glory and Honour!"
Ain't got time to die.

At that time the song was catchy, nice, and very sing-along to. Loved it to bits. But as I grew, something kept standing out to me about the song. The person who sang that song was too busy serving Jesus, he didn't want to die. Hmmm... Too busy serving Jesus. And the next verse makes it all rather twisted. Serving Jesus took all of his time to praise Him. Apparently, he's been so busy serving Jesus, he didn't take time to praise Him.

There's two things that struck me in that song. First, the fact that He was too busy serving Jesus. Meaning that from the time he woke up to the time he went to bed, all he did was serve him. Serve Him while taking a shower. Serve Him while brushing his teeth. Serve Him while spreading the bread and making coffee.. Serve Him, serve Him, serve Him. Everything was service. To the point that dying was nowhere near an option. He'd rather serve him than meet him? Was it a good thing? Maybe. Maybe not. Paul says that for him, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Was he feeling the same thing? I don't know. But from the looks of things, he was so caught up serving, that meeting Jesus was... not there.

Second, the fact that serving Jesus took all of his time praising Jesus. Kinda sad, if you ask me. It reminds me of Mary and Martha. When Mary was at the feet of Jesus, Martha was running around doing this and that, cooking, preparing, making meals (and don't ladies know this well?). It took all of her time to enjoy the presence of her guest. She didn't enjoy the beauty and joy that came along with being with Jesus. She didn't take time to praise and connect with Jesus, all she did was run around. And so did this person. So when the option of dying was floated, he was like: "I can't!! I've spent too much time running around, I can't die. I haven't even felt His presence, told Him how much I love Him, how much He means to me! I just can't die!!"

Sad, but true. We all spend too much time serving and doing things, that matter, yet don't matter. Let's take time to set things straight- take time to strengthen what we have with Jesus - and when the time comes we say, "Oh Jesus, here I come!"

Royal Awesomeness!

Interesting that the Bible calls us a royal priesthood, a holy nation. I do find that interesting, because, in my normal day-to-day life, I haven't ever considered myself as royal. Holy, maybe; because I try every single day (with God's help) to live a life that's honorable and pleasing. But royal?

Do you know what royal entails? Real royalty? It entails more than just the name. It goes way to the clothing - they must be perfect, and look like something valuable; the mannerism - no behaving like a goon or jungle beast; to the abode - the room should look neat, not like a pigsty... the list is endless.

God's royalty is much like earthly royalty, though it has is fair share of differences. God's royalty is spiritual royalty, royalty that starts from the inside out. Earthly royalty starts from the outside in - everybody got to see you "get royal" to truly appreciate your status. The dressing too matters. Spiritual royalty deals more with inner beauty. The Bible talks about being clothed with righteousness, to put on love, put on the full armor of God (none of which deals with armory and attire).

And the mannerisms? God's standards is love - love your neighbour, enemy, supervisors, employees,... love, love, love. With that comes submission - wives to their husbands, and submission to those in authority (which includes praying for them). There's also the issue of forgiveness (seventy times seven - Oh so many times!), forgiving freely, holding nothing back.

 And then there's our abode - Heaven. Oh so sweet Heaven. Made of pearls and gold. Made of nothing but pure niceness. God's glory are its light. The beauty is untold. Only royalty  - God's royalty abides. Those who call Him Lord, and He calls them His children. The pure, the holy, those who have the dressing and mannerisms of His Royalty.

That, my friends is royalty. Real royalty. And I still wrap my mind around the fact that he calls me royal. Mind blowing, yet true. Very true.