Saturday, February 19, 2011 - Live, Laugh, Love

     Words make great art these days. "Live, Laugh, Love" appears on everything from stationery to wall art. Is it just me or is it a little sad that we need to remind ourselves to live, laugh, and love? Living should come about as naturally as anything we do since fighting for survival is instinctual. There's plenty of laughter in the world if laughter means laughter at crudeness, at another person or at entertainment in general. Loving also comes naturally if by love we mean a protective and affectionate attachment to people we're bound to by blood, law or common interestws. 

     Of course "Live, Laugh, Love" aren't popular because we need reminders to do what comes naturally. They're on the coffee cup to remind us to inhale the aroma and take a moment to sip life in a leisurely enjoyment of God's simple gifts. We buy these words on bookmarks and keychains as personal reminders to laugh at ourselves and move forward in God's grace. They're on the walls of our homes to remind us to relish the people God's given us as family and friends, people we're likely to take for granted. In the middle of the day's drudgery and menial tasks, the words "Live, Laugh, Love" can open a window and let the Light in to reveal the deeper meaning in any task.
Jesus transformed:
     *the drudgery of washing dirty feet into a lesson on humility and service for 12 men.
     *a daily trip to the well into a drink of Living Water for a social outcast.
     *the task of planting a seed into a spiritual picture of new life.
     *a cross of execution into a tree of Life.
     *our flesh-and-bone bodies into temples of God.
  "It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards." (Oswald Chambers) 
    No task is too small for God's sacred purpose to be infused into it. I can "Live, Laugh, Love," on the most base levels or I can let God turn every moment into a sacred moment.
"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' This is what you are to say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers -- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.'" Exodus 3:14

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereignn LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights." Habakkuk 3:17-19

"Arise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you." Isaiah 60:1

Lord, inject Your holiness into our every moment of this day and may we live to hallow Your name: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

In the Name of Jesus, the One Who infused a body of clay with the Spirit of Almighty God.

Inspired by My Utmost for His Highest
Photo from photobucket.com