We read them everywhere . . . “No Soliciting” . . . “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” . . . “Cashier Has Less Than $25.00 in Cash” . . . the signs of the times!  

          The sign on the door to our Kingdom reads . . . “Righteousness, Peace, and Joy Within.”

         The flag stones leading up the walkway to Cor Unum might read . . . RIGHTEOUSNESS . . . PEACE . . . JOY . . . PEACE . . . RIGHTEOUSNESS . . . JOY . . . PEACE . . . JOY . . . RIGHTEOUSNESS . . . and we might see a pattern in the outlay.

         No righteousness, no peace. No joy, no righteousness. No peace, no joy. All of that can be turned inside out as well . . . as we mean to do here in the Abbey.  We are ever reaching the perfection of maturity, and one day we will be ripe with the display of Spirit and Truth, of Fruit and Gifts, of righteousness . . . peace . . . and joy.

         Oh to be . . . fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and more years old, and not “filled” with the disappointments we’ve endured, the slights we’ve sloughed off, and the heartaches we have lived through, but with righteousness of faith, peace that passes understanding (which is much more than mere endurance,) and joy “unspeakable and full of glory,” because, we are THAT MUCH closer to the death that is, for us, great gain.

         Oh to be crowned at twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of life with the unwavering, undying assurance that we will see our Sovereign face to face . . . and be like Him, because of all the disappointments and slights and heartaches of life have given us reason to remain and find our refuge in our “First Love.”    Truly, our God and Father is working all things together for our good, and as we grow (and age!) we know with certainty that our best and surpassing good is the Nearness of the God we love.  (Psalm 73:28)    

“But as for me,the nearness of God is my good …” (Psalm 73:28a, NASB)

Alabaster Windows

Saint Mary la Mejor Church

Etan J. Tal, Wikipedia, by permission