I/ know a place/ where the grass is really greenest

I got the chance to go to California recently for a conference, and Katy Perry is right: the grass really IS greener. Sprinklers galore.

Green grass-- a symbol of prosperity, of life as we wish it was. I've found Wesley Hill's book Washed and Waiting to be a captivating meditation (applicable to any sinner whose hope is in Jesus!) on the fact that life in this world isn't as we wish it was. It has helped me to find hope in the fact that there are things I long for that will never be satisfied in this world--but this world is not all that there is. Every person ever, should read his book!

Also this week, Marshall and I took an 84-hour tour of the southeast, celebrating Christmas and staying with family for less than 24 hours in like 5 or 6 cities. Which meant lots of time in the car, which for us means lots of time reading aloud. We read mostly from Randy Alcorn's Heaven, and it is filling me with anticipation for what comes next (everyone should also read this book!). Because what comes next for the sinner who knows and trusts Jesus IS a life that is better than we ever imagined it could be! Christ's birth--what we celebrate on Christmas--began the work that ends with everything sad becoming untrue. Everything wrong being righted. Every tear gone.

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing" is my favorite Christmas carol; it's emotional for me to sing such an exciting song about something that really is THAT exciting to me:

Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations rise;
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic host proclaim
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail! the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"

 

I bolded my favorite lines. . .  I love that, even though most of the time Christmas is about Santa, ipads, food, and family, there is still a time that we set aside to celebrate the great hope that Jesus offers to the world! 

 

The green grass thing came up this morning, when I was thinking about a Phil Wickham song, where he's imagining Heaven, saying, "I want to run on greener pastures/ I want to dance on higher hills. . ." It's beautiful imagery. I think that Katy Perry does express something universal: that we all want something better than what we have. Greener grass. But I look forward to something FAR better than being a "California Gurl": the hope of Heaven, made possible to me, a sinner, by Jesus Christ.