Shirlee Abbott

Dress Rehearsal

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Matthew 6:10 (NIV)
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Life here on earth is just a dress rehearsal for the real thing in heaven.

Posted in other | Tagged Heaven, Matthew 6:10 | 2 Comments

Looking Forward

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Posted in other | Tagged Heaven, Revelation 43 | 2 Comments

The Well-Dressed Soul

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

C.S. Lewis offers this thought on dressing for heaven:

“Women sometimes have the problem of trying to judge by artificial light how a dress will look in daylight. That is very like the problem for all of us: to dress our souls not for the electric lights of the present world but for the daylight of the next.”

Dress up!

Posted in other | Tagged C. S. Lewis, Heaven | 2 Comments

You Will Take It with You

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

I’m planning and packing for a trip. Are you planning and packing for your final trip?

I can’t take it with me
Planning, yes. Packing, no.
I’m going to heaven. Why worry?

True, you don’t pack a suitcase for your trip from earth to heaven. But you won’t go there empty-handed.

You take your history and your faith with you.

You’ll have your garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3). You’ll have your to-do lists (past and present). And a cloak of honesty (seriously, you don’t plan to make excuses in the throne room, do you?).

Posted in other | Tagged garment of praise, Heaven, packing, to-do list | 2 Comments

God’s Favorite

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

“This King, who is full of goodness and mercy, doesn’t punish me. Rather, He embraces me lovingly and invites me to eat at His table. He serves me Himself and gives me the keys to His treasury, treating me as His favorite.”
The Practice of the Presence of God, Fifth Letter
Brother Lawrence (1614*-1691)

*not all sources agree on the date of Brother Lawrence’s birth

Posted in other | Tagged Brother Lawrence, God's table | 2 Comments

Sit Up to the Table

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

I can choose to eat at my computer desk, or off a TV tray, or even at a table in the food court. Or I can let God feed me from the riches of his table.

I’m sorry, Lord — I spent too much time yesterday sitting at the wrong table and not nearly enough time at your table.

Posted in other | Tagged Bible study | 2 Comments

Remember the Box

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

The diner served up more than I could eat. I carried the rest home in a box.

That’s how it is with Sunday’s sermon. I bring some of it home in a doggie bag. Question is, do I eat it later? Or does it languish in the back of the fridge, fuzzy and forgotten?

Refrigerator, rocky ground — it’s all the same:

Matthew 13:20-21 (CEV)
The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long.

Posted in other | Tagged Bible study, Matthew 13:20-21 | 2 Comments

Better than Dessert

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

Last Saturday, we ate at a diner. Just inside the door was the dessert case: berry-topped cheesecake, lemon pie piled high with meringue, gooey chocolate cake, plate-sized cookies. “Maybe I should skip the meal and go straight to dessert,” I told my husband.

Isaiah 55:2 (NIV)
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.

The Bible, “the richest of fare” — cheesecake and chocolate for your soul!

Posted in other | Tagged Bible reading, Bible study, Isaiah 55:2 | 4 Comments

Soul Food

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

The Bible – when do you study it?

Every day
Sunday service
I’m in a regular study group
Not often

When I was a child, I ate at my mother’s table. The food was prepared by her hands. Likewise, my early Bible lessons came second-hand — from my parents, in Sunday School, at church.

God offers first-hand food for your soul.

Isaiah 55:2-3 (MSG)
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.

Posted in other | Tagged Bible study, Isaiah 55:2-3 | 2 Comments

The Fairest Trial

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Shirlee Abbott

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (VOICE)
Jesus the Lord will appear from heaven dealing out perfect justice to anyone who doesn’t know God and anyone who disobeys the good news of our Lord Jesus . . . They’ll be banished from the Lord’s presence and glorious power.

“Perfect justice” — when all is said and done, no one will say that their trial was unfair.

Posted in other | Tagged 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, Fair, Heaven, Hell, justice | 4 Comments