What a trip we've been having through the Land of Abundant Living! So glad you joined me! Now that the first section of our journey is past, I'd like to catch my breath and bring my comfortable, little lilac-flowered vehicle to a stop, pull out my map and plan the next step, or rather, the next drive. The sun is shining, birds are chirping and the air is fresh. I am reminded of an old saying, "God's in His heaven; all's well with the world."
Some days it doesn't seem much like all is well, though. We'll talk about that more in a minute . . .
But first of all, I'd like to invite you to join me in another word contest! For the previous contest, we put together the first letters of the first ten Keys to the Land of Abundant Living with the prize for the winner being an autographed copy of my novel, The Rose Journal. Well, the next contest will be twice as long, with two books as the prize! The next set of keys will be twenty in all, and the winner will receive a copy of The Rose Journal and its companion Bible study, The View From Eternity. If you already have the books, the set would make a great gift to someone who is going through a hard time, or anyone for that matter! So keep track of the first letters each week and be the first to spell out another phrase!
So now to discuss the first word of the next set of "A" Keys . . . does this mean I'll go through the whole alphabet? Probably not! But it seems a good way to separate the sets for now. :)
I stands for Isolation. There is your first "clue letter": "I." Think a minute. Does Isolation seem like a positive, productive key to use? Or does the sound of it bring discouraging thoughts? Let's consider the word "I" (me, myself). What does the "I" look like to you? Loneliness? Independence? Uniqueness? Abandonment? Selfishness? Freedom? "I" feels like all of those to me, at various points in time.
But to me the Isolation Key is a priceless treasure. I see it as sort of a buffer in this world filled with complexity and problems, when quite often it doesn't seem like "all is well."
I love people and enjoy being with others, but I also need my times of Isolation, times away from other people, but never alone. Because God and I are always together. He never leaves me. Because I have trusted Jesus Christ who died on the cross of Calvary to pay for my sins, I'll never be completely alone. This week, I was paging ahead in my favorite devotional book, Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman, and ran across the following meditation. Right away, it connected with my heart.
". . . practice being alone with Christ! The Scripture says, 'When He (Jesus) was alone with His own disciples, He explained everything" (Mark 4:34). Do not wonder about the truth of this verse, for it can be true of your life as well. If you desire to have understanding, then dismiss the crowd, just as Jesus did. . .
Have you ever pictured yourself as the last remaining person on earth, or the only person left in the entire universe? If you were the only person remaining in the universe, your every thought would be, 'God and I . . . ! God and I . . . !' And yet He is already as close to you as that. He is as near as if no heart but His and yours ever beat throughout the boundlessness of space." George Matheson
Wow! What a thought! What a truth! I want to live every minute . . . every second . . . aware of the closeness of God to me. That is the only way I truthfully assure myself, "All is well."
So if you will excuse me, I'm going to turn the Isolation Key in the next door and step inside for a few moments alone with my beloved Father-God. Isolation may keep me away from other people, but never from the One who loves me the most!
Got your Isolation Key in hand? Use it!
Hope to see you next Wednesday!
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