Monday, November 1, 2010

Amazing Grace

This morning when I was getting ready for work, the song "Amazing Grace" was on my mind. I've known this song since I was a young girl. I always love singing it and if I am really paying attention to the verses, it can bring a tear or two to my eye. Sometimes I will sing the original version of the song, other times I'll sing
Todd Agnew's "Grace Like Rain" version.  There is another version on KLOVE but being deaf with cochlear implants, I'm not sure how the tune goes so I don't really sing that one (unless I sing along to the radio).  Truthfully, it's probably a good thing no one but God hears me sing...because I'm sure I'm off key no matter what version I sing!

Anyway.....

This morning the one verse that hit me right between the eyes was the third verse.  "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise, than when we first begun." 

This got me to thinking about when you first fall in love.  Think back to when that special someone first came into your life and you began to realize this was the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with.  Remember the butterflies in your tummy?  Remember how your heart leaped into your throat at the sound of their voice?  You would talk on the phone late at night and fall asleep listening to each other breathing because neither one  of you wanted to hang up.  You found yourself finding all sorts of reasons to call each other and you went out of your way to spend time together.  Eventually you reached a point where you were sure that you couldn't go another day without that person.  And that's when you began to think about marriage and spending the rest of your life with them.

You always made sure your hair was fixed a certain way, and if you are a woman, you probably had your make-up done and wore something that you knew he'd like.  You most likely wore perfume or cologne so you would have a pleasing aroma.

You had a lot more patience with him/her than you did with other people.  You found yourself giving in to that person's wishes more than your own.  You took great joy in seeing them happy.  You became "otherly" with that person, putting them and their needs before your own.

It's a wonderful thing, falling in love.  In fact, it's so wonderful that musicians make a fortune writing songs about it.  Film makers make millions creating movies about it.  Authors have best sellers writing about it.  And little girls dream about it when they are, well, little! 

Fast forward now to being married for 5, 10, 20 years or more.  The butterfly feelings are probably gone.  Your heart doesn't jump into your throat any more when they walk into the room.  And who has time to talk on the phone?  The kids are hungry, diapers need changing, and forget about perfume!  If you still have babies, spit-up has become the newest fragrance you wear! 

Patience went out the window with sleeping through the night!  And if you are past the baby stage, you are either in the toddler stage, the tween stage, the teen (I know everything stage), or your babies are leaving home and you are starting the empty nest stage.  Perhaps you are beyond all of that and now are grandparents and get to experience all those stages from the distance.  What ever stage of life you are in, it probably isn't one filled with all those emotions you first felt when you fell in love.

And your spouse no longer looks like they did when you first fell in love.  Smooth skin has been replaced by wrinkles.  Politeness at the dinner table has been replaced by burps and talking with your mouth full.  Bodily noises now escape your spouse while watching TV and if you are lucky, they will say "excuse me."  (Of course, this one is referring to the husbands only...we wives would NEVER do that!  Right?)

Dressing up now means putting on a clean pair of sweats and t-shirt.  Doing your hair means running a brush through it and putting it up in a pony tail.  Yep, that gray haired balding man looks nothing like the guy you married.  (And maybe he is a lot bigger than he was all those years ago too!) 

So what does all that have to do with verse three of Amazing Grace?  Well I'm glad  you asked that!

There will never be a time when praising God will get old.  We will always, for eternity, feel those feelings like we did when we first fell in love.  Every time we go before God's throne, we will get excited! We will have our heart doing flip flops.  Going before his presence will be like the first time, every time!  For eternity!  It's like falling in love was God's way of preparing our hearts for what it will be like when we spend eternity with Him!  For eternity!  For ever and ever!  That, my friends, is amazing grace!

"Grace Like Rain"
 by Todd Agnew

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see so clearly

Chorus:
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Chorus

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing Your praise
Than when we first begun


Be blessed,

Sue









1 comment:

  1. I use a lot of different Bible versions...but the one you were asking about was the New Living Translation. I like how easy it is to read. Thanks for stopping by and joining in the fun. Blessings!

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