Meet and Greet

Have you ever anxiously awaited your opportunity to meet some one with a little or a lot of clout?  A person who's leadership or abilities has granted them a position of power or prominence.  It can be a bit nerve wracking, hoping that the reality of the personality does not disappoint the trumped up ideal.

As I've been reading through various passages of the gospel in preparation for Easter, I realized again that one day I will meet Jesus.  Face to face, in nervous expectation I will meet Him.  Wouldn't it be heart breaking if that first encounter was awkward? 

What if He didn't know what to say.  Or if he was so busy and distracted, He could only muster a half-smile and a handshake before moving on.  Imagine if He could only talk about Himself, forgetting I was even in His presence.  What if He was too important to even make eye contact with me.  On earth we've all experienced people like this.  It can be hard to recover the love and respect someone is due once the shine has been knocked off.

As all of these thoughts washed over me, I remembered again all of the passages I've been reading about the Savior I love so much.  Think of all of His recorded encounters:

• The little children who He rearranged His schedule just to hold and bless.  

• A desperate, awkward, social outcast of a woman who could only muster enough courage to reach out and touch Jesus' coat as He walked by.  He stopped everything to find and show love to her.  

• Then there was the famous "wee little man" hiding in a tree, who even in his lofty perch, could not escape Christ's notice. Zaccheus ended up with a visit to his very home from the hero of whom he had hoped to merely catch a glimpse.

He loves us!  Oh how He loves us! 

And then there's The Book of Revelation, with it's beautiful pictures of our heavenly encounters with the Son.  I am going to be a mess.  A world weary, crying mess; He is going to wipe away my tears.  I will be under-dressed;  He will give me a perfectly clean robe.  I will be overwhelmed;  He will call me His child. 

Jesus has asked me to follow Him, to obey His words.  Why?  Because life on earth is hard.  He knows it.  He lived it long before I did.  And as I read through Revelation today, I was amazed to think He is also excited for the day we meet. 

He is hoping that I do not reject Him; He wants me to live with Him forever.  He wants me to see his face, to experience life free from sadness and death.  There is no way He is going to disappoint me.  And even though there will be many reasons I have disappointed Him, that's not what He'll be thinking about.  Instead like the father of the lost son, He'll run to embrace his child who has finally made it home.

What a beautiful thought!