I often times find myself reminiscing of the first time I laid eyes… up front and personal… on the young gal who would eventually become my wife, as she stopped to say ‘Hello’ at my desk on the way to her seat directly behind me on the first day of our 11th grade academic English class. I know that I’ve talked about that day a lot within the content of my blogs over the years… but hang in there with me as I have a specific point that I want to liken to that event in today’s blog post.
Amongst
everything else that I noticed about her in that initial meeting, it was the
bright “TWINKLE” of excitement and adventure that radiated from
her eyes that seemed to light up and amplify her already joyful countenance. There was just something fun but yet different
about her… and it took me exactly a year to that day to figure out that I
wanted to start dating her and explore just what it was that made that “TWINKLE”
so incredibly alluring and interesting to me! Whatever it was… I wanted to be a part
of it…
Well… throughout the 48 years that ensued
after we started dating, I learned a lot about what made her tick and be the
unique individual who was able to abscond with my heart… and even though she
moved to her heavenly reward some eight years ago, I still find myself learning
deeper revelations about her and the special spirit of faith that
was the foundation of everything she did, said and thought.
Take yesterday
morning for example… as I was studying in my Bible, I came across a verse in
the book of Proverbs from chapter 15 verse 30, that in one of my favorite modern
translations reads,
“A TWINKLE in the eye
delights the heart. Good news refreshes the body.” (God’s Word ©)
And yea… you
probably saw it too, right? As
soon as I read about the “TWINKLE in the
eye” I immediately
called out to nobody in particular in my empty, except for me, apartment
and (before
I caught myself and lowered my voice…)
shouted, “That perfectly describes Piper!” As that scripture states, she had a delightful
heart that almost always seemed to jump out of her and onto most people around
her… and when she entered a room there was a tangible refreshing
that accompanied her… and lingered well after she left.
But what was it
about her delightful and refreshing heart that seem to radiate from the ever-present
“TWINKLE” in her eyes?
Well… as I continued looking at Proverbs 15:30 earlier today, I sensed
an inner leading to go back to our verses from last week’s blog post… but this
time from a different… not real well-known translation from 1976 that talked
about the Abraham kind of faith by explaining that,
“Abraham never wavered
in his trust, and he refused to believe in his
body’s sterility or Sarah’s barrenness. He didn’t permit a lack of trust to stagger
his confidence in God’s promise, but instead, his trust made him strong and so
brought fulfillment to God. For he was
confident that God, who gives life to the dead and calls creation into being,
would fulfill the promise He had made.” (Romans 4:19-21 / The Heart of Paul – A Relational Paraphrase of the New
Testament.)*
The Passion
Translation of Proverbs 15:30 further describes the “TWINKLE” in
one’s eyes by stating that,
“Eyes that focus on what is
beautiful bring joy to the heart, and hearing a good report refreshes and
strengthens the inner being.”
…Which is EXACTLY
what Abraham did in order to receive the miraculous fulfillment of what God had
promised him! He stayed focused on the
beautiful expectation of the Truth of GOD’s Word… the promise
that God had given him… working for him… even though there wasn’t one tangible shred
of natural evidence to the contrary of his and his wife’s old age, their worn-out
bodies and the impossibility of birthing a child!
That was the
foundation to the brightly shining, undeniable “TWINKLE” in
Piper’s eyes that I could still see shining… from way down deep
inside… as I looked into her eyes and talked to her for five hours on the
night she left this world behind. That “TWINKLE”
carried her through life… all the way to heaven!
It is a “TWINKLE”
of the refreshing life of faith in Christ that I believe the good
Lord wants for each of us to carry and brightly allow to shine through us
wherever we go on this earth… and then beyond!
Well… the
weather isn’t shining all that bright out here in middle Tennessee right now as
we are getting some of the outlying remnants of heavy rain and gusty winds from
Hurricane Isaias! Nothing like the 100
mph winds that blew down my fence in Oklahoma, but definitely a little out
of the norm! And yet… God is good and
we’re not going to allow it to dim the “TWINKLE” that we have the
Right, the Responsibility and the Authority…
as Christians… to carry with us throughout each day!
Have a terrific,
brightly shining week ahead!
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