God's Grace: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

I Have Trouble Being Happy

As life goes on, sometimes it drags on, doesn’t it? Our gait slows, our heads droop. Saggy faces see only the ground, the dust, the litter, and garbage. When we look and think only about our own little worlds, the ones we’ve constructed, our lives can seem small and cramped and brittle. Things break. People let us down. Things we’ve woven unravel. Things we’ve built soften and erode like sand castles at the beach.

“Lift up your heads,” the Bible tells us. See things from God’s point of view, God’s intent, God’s design. See where you fit in both in this world and the next: “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

The poorest person in the world can enjoy a fiery sunset for free--how long has it been since you sat still and just gawked at God’s celestial paintbrush? or got out of town and stood in silent wonder beneath the stars on a cloudless night? or watched the surf ceaselessly smash into a rocky coastline?

Even better--how long has it been since you savored the Bible’s descriptions of how beautiful heaven will be? God put eternity in your heart for a reason.