We went on a hayride with our Sunday School class this weekend. It was a beautiful evening, almost balmy. Of course I had to take the camera. I'm still figuring out this new one & *sniff* I'm not very good with it yet. Ah, the sweetness of digital technology and photoshop. Snap a bazillion pictures, delete the completely unusable ones, & jazz up the rest. However, I'm pleased to say these 2 shots are nature au natural. Joe took the second one - same sky, different camera setting. I'm not even sure what he did but the effect is rich.
When I saw these, I was immediately reminded of a song called "Maker of the Heavens" by Jennifer Randolph:Maker of the heavens
Painter of the sky
Your greatest works reserved for such as I
The angels long to sing
About the gift you gave to me
The love of God so unrestrained and free
You, oh Lord, are the fragrance of my praise
The finest words could never bear my heart
You, oh Lord, are the essence of my praise
I treasure you for who you are
I could end my blog right there; praise in words and pictures. But I have a thought...
I'm reading a book called 90 Minutes in Heaven. The author describes dying in a car wreck, going to heaven, & returning to earth after being officially declared dead for 90 minutes. I don't usually read these 'vision of heaven' books. There's one especially, by a very popular evangelist, that I scanned thru & thought "bad burrito alert!!" This one is different, believable. He said several things that made me think & I want to touch on those in the next few days. But here's my Gypsy Musing for today:
The thing he remembers most, almost 10 years later, are the sounds in heaven. The author describes the constant swishing sound of angel wings as "a holy melody with a cadence that seemed never to stop...a form of never-ending praise." He said praise was everywhere, all of it musical, hundreds of different songs being sung at the same time, yet the melodies and tones blended perfectly. He didn't just hear the music - it played in and through his body.
We're told that we'll be praising God for eternity, which causes many people to think (1) that's gonna get boring (2) is God some kind of Divine Egomaniac? But stay with me here...
God is love. His love is "unrestrained and free", not a seperate attribute, not an emotion. It's who & what He is. God/Love. Love/God. One and the same. To be in the presence of pure Love, where it not only surrounds you, but saturates your very being...what would your response be? LOVE. I think the sounds, music, and praises of heaven are the sounds of this flow of spiritual love energy between God, His children, angelic beings, and all of the heavenly realm! I don't think it's just everyone singing & chanting Holy Holy Holy, although there probably is some of that. I think what is called the sound of praise in heaven is really...the Sound of Love.
Selah.
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