Why worry?

Driving home today was a moment of perfection.

Little one was in the passenger seat, hiding windswept under her coat and looking quite a lot like Cousin It.

We both had our big sunglasses on that make us look like glamorous starlets incognito out among the people (or like overgrown grasshoppers, depending on which opinion you consult).

The windows were down and brown curls were blowing everywhere.

Golden sunlight and fresh driving-over-the-water wind was streaming in.

The sky and the water were all aglow with the deep honey rays of the just dying day.

It was one of those moments that forms the seams in the fabric of my heart. Those recurring sweet dreams that knit together all the other pieces like a golden thread that frames even the unbearable in beauty.

And as we drove, Carrie Underwood sang a song that has caught my wondering lately. "Temporary Home." Used to describe alternately a foster home, a halfway house and finally all of life as we know it. "Windows and rooms, that I'm passing through."

It's interesting. It's sweet and soothing. There's peace in remembering that this is not all there is. That there is some other destination; a reality behind the longing that whispers in our souls.

And as we drove, we rode in silence and I smiled gently as I turned the wheel, changing lanes to continue our perfect journey unhindered by slow movers.

And then we almost crashed.

...

"Almost" here is a very subjective phrase. As I slanted into the lane to my right, the car in the lane beyond seemed just a little too close. A second glance found him (a middle aged man with brown hair and a startled but not unkind face) in the middle of the lane into which I was slowly moving. An easy turn of the wheel in the other direction moved us safely away with hardly a jolt. We never came closer than four or five feet.

Still, it was an interruption to the serenity; to our smooth, sunlit passage home.

And yet, contrary to all other such "almosts," my heart didn't skip a beat. And, at that precise moment, as we glided back into our lane and Carrie continued to sing, I heard God whisper something so simple and more distinctly than I've heard Him in a long time...

"Why worry?"

I don't know that I can even contain in words what it did for my heart to hear those words in my Father's voice. It was as though the entire situation were hand painted by the Lord; just a scene for Him to speak so clearly exactly what I needed to know. I am overcome with gratitude.

One thing I know of my God: He is mighty to save. His eye is yet on the sparrow and I know He watches me. He guards me and is far greater than any trial or fear I've ever known. If the worst I can imagine were to come to be, the cross has already conquered it.

And though the world shattered around me... Though every thing of beauty and strength that has ever brought me comfort were to melt before my eyes... If everything really did fade to black...

Yet the Lord would be seated on the throne. And yet the end of days would find me on another sunlit passage home; full speed into the arms of He who has loved me ever.

"This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong.
Windows and rooms that I'm passing through.
This is just a stop on the way to where I'm going;
And I'm not afraid because I know
This is my temporary home."

Love Himself is our eternal end. Why should we fear?

And if forever finds me with Him, why worry about the simple signposts that lead me there?

Sunglasses on. Radio playing sweet songs. Windows down and wind blowing. Let the sunlight pour in. Let the miles fly by. Let's melt into the highways and the golden rays that warm our souls.

Let's fly fearless.

After all, why worry?