At His Feet

I am embarrassed to say that, this morning, I opened a book that has been sitting unopened on my desk for almost exactly a year.  It is a beautiful leather-bound book.  Bonnie gave it to me last Christmas.  It is called "At His Feet".  It is a daily devotional.  I was captivated by it from the moment I picked it off the shelf.

The binding just felt right.  Like an old pair of shoes....it just fit my hands.  From working around this cabin, my hands are much rougher than this binding.  It is smooth and soft.  It just feels...well, "right". 

As I opened the little book, I wasn't sure at all what to expect from it.   I've been disappointed in daily devotionals from time to time, but I should have  known this one would be special.  Think about who gave it to me and when.  Her last Christmas on earth and this was one of her last Christmas presents to me.  I should have known.

I am one of those people who will read the first page of a book and then sometimes turn to the last page and read it.  I remember the first time I determined to read the bible from cover to cover.  I read Revelation first.  I was glad I did. 

This morning, I opened the little book to January 1.  How do you suppose this little devotional is going to start my year in 2011?  The title of the entry is "Ultimate Authority" and the scripture is REVELATION 22:13  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End".

Well then.  We might as well get that straight on the front end.  If you are going to commit to follow someone or something for an entire year, that someone or something should be pretty special.  HE IS.  I was captivated. 

I naturally turned to the last entry to see how it would end the year.  The title is "Final Product" and the scripture is Luke 6:40 "Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher."  While I cannot expect to be fully trained in one year, I can pray that I will be more like my teacher.  This little book may be one way in which HE is planning to teach me?

Now I was really interested in this book.  As a natural way, at least to me, to test this book, I turned to today's entry.  December 21.  What would the title be?  What would it have to say?  What do you suppose?

"FIRST LOVE"  and the scripture is Revelation 2:4.  "You have forsaken your first love".  When I read the title, I gasped.  Then when I read the scripture and the page below it, I realized God had put this book on that shelf, through Bonnie, for today; as a way for me to begin planning my next year; as a way to "remember Bonnie and honor Him".

When I read the title, I naturally thought of Bonnie.  As I read the scripture I thought of Him.  As I continued to read the words on today's entry, I thought of both of them together.  Can you imagine Bonnie with her first true love?  (I was her second.  I knew that.  That was fine with me.)  She is singing His praises and He is smiling over it.  What a wonderful thing to imagine. 

I don't think Bonnie let her first love grow stale, do you?  It grew deeper and more resolute.  It grew stronger and even more supple.  The roots of her love for her Lord continued to grow deep into the soil of the scripture and her branches grew toward the heavens in a way that never broke.  She stayed the course and reached her goal.  She has given me a goal of my own.  She passed that goal on to others as well.  She became more like her teacher.

Last evening as I returned to this cabin from a visit to Shelley, Ben and Lexi I knew I wanted to write an entry here.  I opened this site last night but the words did not come.  I took Hobo out for his last walk of the evening and looked up into the sky.  It was a full moon and I needed no flashlight.  I knew this was going to be a special dawn. 

About 5:30 I awoke to something that Bonnie and I love about this cabin.  We face West and look out over six miles of open water.  The moon was setting!  It was huge.  The light from it shone across the lake and the reflection of it on the calm water came directly at me.  I immediately thought of her.  I then thought of the one who set that moon in place and told the waters "you will go this far and no farther".

Later this morning I opened that little book on my desk and read:  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End". 

On this journey I am beginning to understand that things do not just happen.  Unlikely men don't just happen to show up in a park.  A young nurse doesn't just happen to tell me to give myself a break and go for a walk.  Wives don't just happen to give their husbands a little leather-bound book that sits on a shelf for a year before being opened at the precise time it is needed.  I could go on and on with these "don't just happens", but as these entries continue, I pray we will all understand better and become more like the teacher.  Let's pray that for each other during 2011 and as we continue this journey....together.