better than bluebonnets

 “A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, the one you love is very sick.’

“But when Jesus heard about it he said, ‘Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this.’ Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days and did not go to them. Finally, after two day, he said to his disciples, ‘Let’s go to Judea again.’” John 11:1-7

My Abba,

As I read this passage, it occurs to me - you first allowed someone you loved to get sick. Your love for Lazarus didn’t give him a free pass on pain.

You allowed him and his loved ones to suffer with his sickness. You allowed Lazarus to die and his sisters Mary and Martha (two women you also loved) to be devastated by his death.

They may have felt betrayed because of your lack of “timely” intervention. They were aware of your power to prevent their loss. So they felt you chose not to help them when they had cried out for your rescue.

Later on in the passage, John describes Jesus weeping. So I don’t think you stood by callously detached from their suffering.

And yet, you allowed it to transpire. This particular situation had a dramatic, supernatural ending that relieved pain and restored life for a season. But it was not easy along the way. 

You clearly were more invested in them experiencing your eternal purposes than living in circumstantial ease. I am reminded that you are devoted to us knowing the truth about who you are, experiencing genuine relationship with you, and living with you forever.

I want your glory (the ways you illuminate who you are) to be of utmost importance to me, also. That privilege should be far more paramount to me than you jumping through the hoops of my temporal expectations to give me a cozy life.

Unfortunately, at times, I sidestep your divine perspective when painful circumstances pound my clarity. Please lift my eyes to meet your gaze when I feel ransacked by struggle.

I want to have an increasingly eternal perspective. I want the display of your glorious presence to be the deepest yearning of my heart.

I love you,

Mollie

My child,

In Texas every spring, I splash the soft lapis splendor of bluebonnets across the Hill Country landscape. They are a beautiful but brief pleasure. No matter how much you love them, though, you do not want your whole life devoted to a bluebonnet, which wilts and dies so quickly.  

You can choose to groom a shortsighted perspective that brings seasonal, fleeting satisfaction, at best. Or, you can allow me to cultivate in you an eternal perspective that transcends the flimsy pleasures you may snatch while you are earthbound. 

I can give you my eyes to see, so that you will crave the joy of investing in what will never fade. I know that is your desire when you are not distracted. 

You have the choice each day to plant and tend a field of fragile flowers that bloom and fade in a few weeks. Or, you can participate in the harvest of a forever field that bears increasingly glorious fruit without end.

I know you love bluebonnets but consider what I am offering you. An eternally beautiful yield! Something infinitely better than bluebonnets!

Ask me as you are deciding whether to invest in a field. I can show you if it is the best use of your time and energy. Choose to sow eternal seeds of joy and life in the fertile fields I have for you.

I love you,

Abba

photo: khampanya

NLT