look out your window, and remember

The Word for today:

Psalm 30

mark this: Psalm 30:1

I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths.

Every time I post a blog article, I pick a picture to accompany it.  I hope you notice them, because sometimes I spend an inordinate amount of time poring over hundreds of Google images to come up with something just right.  But sometimes, just between you and me, I can't find an image to enhance the article, so I have to settle for an image that won't detract.

This is the 915th Stand in the Rain article, which means that we've selected (counting the days with multiple images) upwards of 970 pictures.  Of them all, the picture you see above is my absolute favorite.

I'm not even sure if it's (aesthetically speaking) a good picture.  My heart is so invested in that picture that I'm not sure my eyes could impartially evaluate it.

My sons brought it home from their Sunday school class in 2003, when they were 8 and 9.  It ended up on the kitchen table with the Sunday paper.  At first I didn't know there was a poster there, because it was folded in quarters, into booklet form, and I only saw the scribbled-out memory verses that were listed on the back cover:

Luckily, I unfolded the little booklet before tossing it away.  And there it was!

The poster grabbed me at first glance; I distinctly remember my heart double-clutching and missing a beat all at the same time! 

I'm not sure why.  I'm not a poster person at all.  And of all the treasures buried in the Psalms, this particular verse had escaped my notice. 

Then, as I was taping my newfound treasure to the wall I noticed the booklet's front cover:

  

I don't want to oversimplify things because neither you nor I are 8 and 9 years old.  But I also don't want to over-complicate the things that scripture makes very clear:

Jesus' role in God's plan is to lift us out of the depths.  (That sentence will suffice, as well as any, as a synopsis of the Bible.)

And our role in God's plan is to exalt Jesus.  The catechism's first axiom says so:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. (1)

So the essence of the Plan is that we lift up the one who lifted us up:

I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths.  (Psalms 30:1)

  

I'm not sure what form that might take in your life, but you'll be able to figure it out if you just look out your window on a rainy day, and remember.

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(1) Westminster Shorter Catechism