Praise

Praise

This morning I choose my Portmerion cup and saucer for breakfast.  The creamy white china with a perky spray of pink and rose diantus flowers is both dainty and pretty.  I pour hot, dark Irish Breakfast tea into the cup.  Although not visible in the picture, delicate, undulating wisps of steam spiral upward.  The graceful swirls of vapor dance as they lift heavenward.  I believe they are rising in praise to their Creator.  The swiftly-fading beauty of that white mist is, I'm sure, pleasing to the Father who made it. 

I delight in knowing that the smallest and seemingly insignificant detail upon this earth is neither of those things.  Would that I would be as faithful as those tiny fingers of steam lifting heavenward throughout their entire existence. 

This is also a picture of the impermanence of our life on earth, as well.  In scripture we read, "For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" James 4:14.  While that might sound a bit morbid, it's really not.  We are simply being reminded that life on this spinning ball is very brief in comparison with the unending eternity that we will experience when our earthly life ends. 

So - it behooves us (nifty word, isn't it?!) to glorify and praise our Creator while our temporary mist swirls and spins down our earthly path, because the best of life doesn't begin until we reach the other side - and "only what's done for Christ will last."