Freedom in Christ: Musings of an Island Girl, Photoshoot of Big Lake Island, Part 3..Hebert's Camp

I like to stroll thru Hebert's Camp.

There is so much color.

So many nooks... I marvel at the front porches, the well kept yards, the dazzling arrays of flowers. I wonder about the lives of the people attached to the porches, inside the houses...

Hebert's camp is an area that consists primarily of vacation homes and camps.. ..very nice and lovely homes.
I like the beauty of the area. everything is kempt and arranged ever so neatly. The yards are pristine.

This may sound strange, but I can see God, in things that are ordered..things are beautiful and well kept.

I see God in the attention to the details..in the time taken to make things lovely... I see God in sweat and toil and work. I think of the verses that warn against laziness..

Proverbs 6:6-11

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
   consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
   no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
   and gathers its food at harvest.
How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
   When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
   a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief
   and scarcity like an armed man.

It reminds me that good things are never free. There is always sweat and work that must come in order to reap a reward.

As i look at the world of color, I can see the work that it took to grow the flowers. Hands pressed into ground. Dirt under nails. Thorns pricking skin. And I know that nothing of value is ever handed over..

I used to think that God was a tool for "handing things over.." I thought His sole purpose was to help me pass a test or to get me safely from point A to point B.

I was naive.

I didn't realize that He is more. He is the creator of this world of color. He has a plan which far exceeds anything that was on my mapped out little agenda. And He tells us that entry into His kingdom is hard. It's work. Because I have come to see that the best things in life are never free. Nothing of any value ever comes easily. Christ died so that we might live..but the walk doesn't end there. We are called to pick up our own cross and walk.. and that requires work. It requires sacrifice. It requires seeking and loving in such as way that self is put aside.

I keep envisioning runners of a marathon. They train for months to run one of the most difficult races. They train thier bodies. They prepare themselves mentally. They push themselves toward a desired goal. They achieve because of thier endurance and hard work.

with all that in mind... I can't help but think of the verse that says we are in a race. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." Corinthians 9:4... This is one of several verses about a race. So if we are required to run a race, doesn't that mean work? It makes sense..that the best prizes go to the people who work the hardest..who push..who endure..who persist...who overcome every evil with good. It makes sense. It is justice..... even in this life..we often don't think it is fair for some to get handed things while others do all the work...so why should Heaven be any different.. Some serious food for thought.

......on another note, I see how God longs to take broken lives and make them beautiful. Broken people.

He allows me glimpes of what the world should be look...it should be ordered and beautful and well kept. I once read that Heaven will be a lot like the way life was intended. Before the fall. There will be roses without the thorns.

I imagine people working together, helping one another, living life the way it was always meant to be lived.

I imagine Heaven as strolling through a beautiful world of color.

p.s...

Don't be discouraged. When you are tired and don't feel like running anymore.. Remember..
"I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13