and how long will you be staying?

I spent much of last Saturday with my CD collection. I've been ripping my music down to MP3 format with plans to build a music server. This just adds fuel to the fire when my friends refer to me as a geek.

No matter. One of my favorite artists from way back is Gordon Lightfoot, and even though I like his earlier works best, I own one of his later CD's which is entitled "A Painter Passing Through." I had not thought about this disc for a long time but again encountered it this weekend.

I've always enjoyed meditating on that album title; I identified with it in a certain sense. A Painter Passing Through. I don't consider myself an artist of any kind, but I love to reflect on the notion that I'm passing through. I think of passages of scripture such as in Philippians 3, where Paul reminds us that we are "citizens of heaven." That notion, along with pondering Christ's return, helps me bear much frustration associated with living in this world.

Reflecting again on the Lightfoot album title, I was reminded of this quote:

The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves at home here on earth.

—Malcolm Muggeridge

Live daily with the joy that this is not all there is! Even though I need to be diligent in my pursuits and the discharge of my responsibilities, and there are all kinds of frustrations that can derail me (if I let them,) those things just don't stack up against God's promise in Christ of eternal life with him. That is abundant life that begins anew every day.