Get Real

Psalm 5:3 - In the morning O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

As people were busy making New Year’s resolutions, my grandma was busy dying...and expecting.  It’s a process, dying that is.  Sorting out what is real, thinking about what the transition will be like, hoping there will not be suffering. And through my grandma’s “sorting,” she kept finding that what was the most real was Jesus.  “He’s real, isn’t He,” she would say to me with confidence and amazement as I sat by her bed.  “Yes, Grandma, He’s as real as it gets,” I would reply. 

In the busyness of life we rarely stop to think about what is real and where we’re going.  Often it takes a New Year or a funeral to help us pause and sort it out.  We make resolutions based on our reflections, wanting to improve this or that to fill in the gaps and live a better life.  Whether we realize it or not, what we’re really doing is pursuing what is real.  We crave meaning and substance in our lives. 

People often get sick of themselves and the trivial hoard of issues that threaten to rob their lives of significance.  This comes out in various forms of agitation toward self and others.  And so we need times to reset, to realign and refocus.  We do this in small increments throughout our lives, but some – like my grandma – have a unique opportunity to hit the foundation of what is real in their “deathbed sorting.”

I want to tell you a secret.  You don’t have to be on your deathbed to find the foundation of what is real.  You just need the courage to pursue and live it intentionally while you're still alive. Here’s where you start: If you resolve to get better at anything: find more meaning, break a habit or start a healthy one, then don’t focus on that particular thing so much. Simply get closer to Jesus. He is the foundation of real.  If you draw closer to Him, everything else will begin to fall into place.  My grandma knew this before she was on her deathbed, but it was beautiful to see it crystallize with matchless clarity when she actually felt Jesus holding her.  And in that place, everything else faded away and didn’t really matter.

It is said that if one is so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.  I believe that is rubbish.  Rather, if you are not heavenly minded – focusing on what is truly real in and through this beautiful life on earth – you are no earthly good.  Get back to thinking about your destination and “foundation of real” in your life.  When you peel back the layers, I think you’ll find Jesus standing where He’s been all along.  He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.  He is everything in between.  When you seek Jesus – the foundation of real – everything else you need will come in time as well (Matt. 6:33).  This year: Get real.

I write this in tribute to my Grandma, who died on January 1^st, 2012 and is now experiencing the ultimate real with Jesus.