H2odevos eots 122021 “every body’s searching”

H2odevos eots 122021 “every body’s searching”

Peter sings, “just a piece of paradise.”

I’m listening to the new cd, Under Your Spell.  It’s not too late to get your stocking stuffer!   http://littleflockmusic.com/product.asp?ID=PM-UYS-CD

A cup of coffee, a wrinkled newspaper, a well worn Bible and an ipod keep me company as I hear Peter sing,

“I thought that I had a soul, it turned out to be just a hole in my life.” 

I keep playing the song over and over. Some of the licks of the guitar state that plaintive lament which is a cry of the heart, but then there is Peter’s soothing voice of hope and resilience. I mean who hasn’t had a hole in their life? As Peter correctly observes “every body’s searching.” Searching for that perfect gift, that perfect mate, that perfect tree, that perfect church, that perfect perfection, a “piece of paradise.”

And yet, folks experience

“broken hearts and broken hands in their lives.”  For some reason this year I am more mindful of that than at other times past. Perhaps it’s because I recognize clearly the brokenness in my heart, in my hands.

In Luke 23:43  Jesus told the thief on the cross,  "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." The thief saw a slice, a piece of paradise.

In 2 Corinthians 12:4  St. Paul talks about how he “
was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.” He got a little piece of paradise.

In Revelation 2:7, we get a celestial invitation,  “
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”

I pray today that you recognize that “piece of paradise” that is from the Prince of Peace.

May the “echoes of the season” bring you joy.

Deck the halls,

rtg