Shakiness...

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for 'God is a consuming fire.'" -- Hebrews 12:28-29

Cannot be shaken...I have never experienced a real-life earthquake, like the ones felt in California, so I don't really know what it feels like to have the earth shake and shift right under my feet. But...I do know what it feels like to have my life shaken up. Several times in my lifetime, things and events have happened that shook me to the core. My father dying of cancer when I was 25 years old...moving from and selling the farm that had been in my family for over 150 years...problems in my marriage...health issues...the near death of my husband after a car accident...things that don't happen when you think God is leading them to happen...

The thing is, even though all those things were traumatic and dramatic in my life, ultimately, they really don't matter. We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We ARE receiving...meaning that right now, in this moment, God is giving us his kingdom. God is giving it to all his human creation, and some of us understand that and are seeking out that gift. God is giving it to us right now. That kingdom, God's kingdom that cannot be shaken, is being given to us. I was shaken by the hard events in my life...shaken to the point that I wasn't sure I could stand any more. But, God's kingdom CANNOT be shaken...it will stand! It will be standing in the end when everything else has crumbled and burnt to the ground. What an awesome gift to be continually receiving!

So, what am I to do with this gift? I am to be thankful and worship the giver of that gift. You would think that would be easy. God is giving us his kingdom...we will live in it forever...so being thankful for that gift should be easy, right? Well, at least from my perspective, I see myself forgetting to be thankful on a daily basis.

As a matter of fact, in the last few days, I had begun to forget again! A few weeks ago, I typed out the words to a song, "I will not be moved." When life swoops in and give me reason to be shaken, moved and fall down...I will remember God and I will NOT be moved. That is what I WANT to do...why then it is so easy for me to moved quickly back to the "woe is me!" mode and begin crying to God all over again? Last night in my car, I had one of those pity-party moments. I cried out to God, I complained to God, I whined and felt sorry for myself...Why can't my life be different????

Well, at least I was TALKING to God. He knows my heart, and he forgives me these moments of weakness...of shakiness. I think most of us wish our lives were different...more money, more time, less stress...we want to be thinner, or more muscular, or prettier or tougher...But, if we can keep reminding ourselves and each other that right now and forever more, we are receiving a gift...a kingdom that cannot be shaken...we can get through our pity-party moments and move on with a life that we can be thankful for. We don't have to wait for heaven...for eternity to experience that gift. He gives us glimpes of it every day.

I am so very thankful that I go to the word every day...that keeps me grounded...reminds me of that gift that I am receiving every day. So my life isn't what I wish it were...so what! God knows what my life will be like FOREVER! I do thank God and worship him with awe and reverence! What a great God to give us reminders each day of the life that IS and WILL BE ours forever! Today, let me feel the warmth of God's consuming fire...let it burn off the shakiness and help me to stand strong in whatever circumstances come my way today!