Abundant Life

"I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." -John 10:10b

I was driving to work this morning, admiring the bright blue skies and bright yellow flowers carpeting the fields around me, singing really loud along with Gloriana's "Wild at Heart", laughing at myself when I sang the wrong words, and all of a sudden this Bible verse popped into my head. It was kind of funny, really, because it has nothing to do with the song I was singing, and I haven't even studied John recently (we're doing Proverbs in OCF). However, as random as it seemed, I decided God wanted me to think about it, and as I did, I realized how much it described what life has been for me recently.

"Abundant" does not necessarily mean happy, or easy, or fun. The months leading up to our inspection were definitely not fun, working 20-hour days when Libya operations kicked off was not at all easy, and I am certainly not happy that I missed out on two planned trips or that Martin was not with me for this last trip due to the sudden deployment. But was life still abundant? If you check Thesaurus.com (essential EPR-writing tool), "abundant" means "plentiful", with synonyms "full" and "overflowing". Antonyms are "lacking" and "scarce".

So Jesus came so that our lives would be plentiful, full, overflowing... with what? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 calls us to "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I admit I am not always full of joy when stress or problems arise, and I don't always give thanks when bad circumstances arise. But I can look back and say that even during those times, my life was plentiful, full, and overflowing -- abundant with meaning, if not always joy. I can certainly never say it was lacking or scarce. I think that's what the first part of John 10:10 refers to: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; [but I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.]" Satan seeks to convince us that our lives are empty, "lacking", or "scarce" - the opposite of abundant. But the lessons learned leading up to the inspection will hopefully make me a better leader in the future, and as I mentioned in the last entry, being involved with Libya operations is something that I will remember the rest of my life, an opportunity I should be grateful for. My life has meaning because God helped me to deal with those circumstances and to come out on the other side for the better.

And then there are the times that "abundant" DOES mean happy! My life has been full of those times recently as well. :-) I'm engaged to a man who I am in love with and can't wait to experience more of life with. I had the amazing opportunities to travel to the Czech Republic and Portugal the last 2 weekends; travels I used to only dream about. I discovered Sintra (Portugal), an unbelievable fantasy world of castles, mountains, forests, and tropical gardens all in one. It is the wonderful season of spring in England, and there are fluffy baby sheep, bright colored flowers, green fields, blue skies, sun, and just natural beauty everywhere you look.

I think that abundant life means knowing I have a purpose, that God loves me enough to send Jesus to save me even though I continue to make mistakes and don't always do what He says. Everything I do and everything that happens to me means something-- it all matters. Knowing this frees me to appreciate the gifts He gives me, like Martin and castles and yellow flowers. :-)

So that is what I thought about today. I owe you entries/photo albums for Prague and Sintra, plus two other posts I have been writing off and on... one about Martin and me, the other about running. Hope to have some done by this weekend! :-) For now, here is a picture of the yellow flowers I keep talking about: the rape (pronounced rah-pay, to avoid being awkward) plant, which blooms in April/May and makes fields across England turn into carpets of bright glowing yellow. I have heard it is made into a type of oil.