Millions of people throughout the world will repeat the title of today’s Words for the Day today as they receive their special gift from a loved one. I repeated it myself this morning to someone very special to me.
My old body has begun to show signs of old age and abuse. It rained here last night and the change in weather has me stiffened up and limping around the house like an old arthritic dog this morning.
As I think about my life I’ve been in fights where I was stomped, gouged, cut, clubbed, and beaten more times than I like to remember. I’ve rolled three cars and crashed head on twice, I OD’d two times on dangerous drugs and my liver quit functioning for a while. I’ve been trampled by horses, wrecked motorcycles, been pulled overboard while catching a shark, shot at and missed and on and on…
Doctors did the best they could to repair broken bones in my legs, collar bone, ribs, nose, arms, hands, and foot. They got me walking again by hammering a steel rod down the middle of my femur and giving me a pair of crutches for two years; they made my smile pretty after just five operations rebuilding and implanting bone and artificial teeth; too they fixed my battered and cut hands, (after one particularly nasty fight the doc said he’d set my knuckles if he could find them); they repaired my nose which had been broken seven times with just two operations and now it is straight as an arrow and importantly I can breathe through it again; my broken ribs had to repair on their own as did various shoulder and chest injuries, and oh yeah numerous concussions.
I didn’t wear sun screen in my youth and now I fight skin cancer and am currently being treated for it. Hepatitis C is a constant threat and then there is that troublesome spot on my lungs that has been identified as a “node” and maybe got there from smoking beginning at 12 and continuing until I was 24, or possibly a scar from one of my bouts with pneumonia. My missing gall bladder limits certain food intake and if I eat the wrong thing, it upsets my entire system. And if I try and take medicine my old worn out eyes can’t see the instructions without a darn magnifying glass.
Hmmm…I’m a mess.
It’s no wonder I’m limping around in pain this foggy morning.
So what in the world does all of the foregoing have to do with the title of today’s entry?
Okay that’s a fair question. I was thinking this fine Christmas morning about Jesus Christ coming to earth to save mankind and what that entails. For sure we will live in peace, joy, and love with God Himself in heaven.
And???
Well… all my aches and pains got me thinking about heaven this morning. Aside from seeing Jesus Christ face to face I look forward to staying forever young.
Just imagine inhabiting a glorified body and being able to run like the wind again permanently free from all aches and pains. Maybe youngsters that still have their youth don’t appreciate it, but we weathered folks do.
As I envision running all over heaven forever I am all the more thankful on this Christmas morning and I want to thank Jesus Christ from the bottom of my old heart. Dear Lord, it’s just what I needed – THANK YOU!
Phil. 3:21
He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.