Pie in the Sky...and Here Too

This is not a new thought. It's something I have been churning in my mind for several weeks. While listening to a message on spiritual gifts at our church we moved from, a picture formed in my mind of a pie chart with about 8 equal sections (or however many gifts were mentioned). The idea was that each gift was just as important as the next and had an important and needed place in the body of Christ. On revisiting that thought, I am seeing a pie chart with a sliver for each individual--still equal, but each person with a complex, unique mix of personality and abilities to contribute to the health and well-being of the body so that it can be an accurate picture of Jesus among us.



Sadly, I'm afraid some pieces of the pie get enlarged and seem overly important, overstepping the bounds of the circle. Others, for whatever reason--lack of appreciation, laziness, straying away and distracted by the world--either don't make it into the radius of the circle or get swallowed up altogether.



The new thought this morning was "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." When we get to heaven, we will say that was then, but this is now--every pie piece is just the right size and fits in its exact place like a puzzle piece. Every person will be there and there will be one large pie,

Perpetual Gallery

When I was little, my dad gave me a perpetual calendar that I was completely enthralled with. I could tell the day of the week anyone I knew was born, what day Christmas would be on in five years, and when the last leap year was. Fascinating! Looking out the window beyond my computer screen and thinking about the Father of all who specializes in "perpetual", I was just thinking that He gives us a perpetual art gallery. Those new picture frames that revolve with pictures have nothing on God! I have this habit of whipping out my camera, which I always have with me in my purse, to take a picture of the sky and now have quite a collection of rainbows, billowy clouds it looks like you could sit on, and dark streaky skies full of color.

The heavens truly are telling the glory of God, and anyone in the world has a birdseye view of His museum of clouds, planets and stars. Many pockets of the world don't have any written descriptions of the pictures in their gallery, but the Spirit of God, the Great Curator, is still speaking to some to go so they will know who the Great Artist of the Gallery Above is. He is calling many who already are trained and great admirers of His work to write descriptions for them in their own languages so they can really know Him who painted a great masterpiece of eternity He has made it possible for them to actually step into. What a perpetual and ultimate Old Master He is!

The Fruit Diet

I want to go on the fruit diet, and like many other realities in the upside-down world of the Kingdom, the diet I discipline myself for is for other people around me more than for my own benefit. Think of all the bright colored, sweet things others could be seeing and enjoying in me--cold, crisp Fuji apples (love), cute little seedless and easy-to-peel clementines (joy), those ultra-sweet pears from Harry and David (peace), and those fuzzy little kiwi fruits from far-away New Zealand (patience). The result is a more energized, better-looking me that fits in the spiritual clothes I want to wear. Just like when one person goes on the South Beach diet and shapes up, it makes everyone else want to shape up too. That's what I want to do for the body of Christ. Instead, I often succumb to my diet of "pecan pie" (jealousy), "French fries" (bursts of anger), and "doughnuts"(it's-all-about-Me thoughts), which equates to a lazy, indulgent, overweight me with untoned muscles. I know it's almost Christmas when we think it's OK to indulge, but I want to have the January, new-start mentality all year round.