The Beautiful Church

 ³ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
 ⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

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 ⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. ⁹ “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”- Haggai 1:3-11 (NIV)

“Oh, no!!! I’m not going in there!” I warned my friend when I chose to go with her to Whole Foods yesterday. Despite being tired, I needed a few items. Grocery shopping, as simple as it was, was something we both treasure. We both enjoyed it. And so was eating out. Except…I had geared myself more to opt for better options when it comes to eating. Like consuming lesser salt, lesser or no sugar, lesser fat. Not that I don’t crave for “junk foods” sometimes. But I started thinking, it felt like a waste of money to buy and eat those with so little benefits to sustain my physical needs. That Whole Foods market was so close to this cupcake shop. Of course, with the wintry weather we were experiencing yesterday, people from different ages were already in a long line, marveling at the sweet aroma and the beautiful cupcakes behind the glass counters.

There I saw this lady, sitting comfortable on a wooden bench outside. Jerking her legs as if to aid in keeping herself warm from gusty, cold winds as her arms were neatly folded across her abdomen. I didn’t want to look at those bad cupcakes…So, I ended up turning to her direction and she was looking away.

“Hello…” I softly uttered.

“Too cold today, isn’t it?”

“Oh, hi!” she responded a little surprised I noticed her.

“I know…Weird weather…”

“Those cupcakes look so good…But I better not go in…” I continued.

“Me, too…I didn’t want to come here but my son wanted to get a few for his friend’s birthday. I haven’t been in this area. I live from the southern part…”

“I see. Well…I used to live in this county but my husband and I moved long time ago. Though far, this is the nearest Whole Foods where I could go. I didn’t mind driving down here because I always go with my friend…” I shared.

“Sorry to ask you,” she interrupted.

“Is that church a Mormon church?”

“I think it is.”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It had been here for so many years now. Being close to the freeway, the steeples are the first things that will catch anyone’s eye.” I replied.

She started sharing about her job being a Pharmacy Tech in a particular drug store and how hard it was. I told her how I used to work in a well-known hospital in that area and had asked her if she tried applying there, just to see if there would be a relief for her in her heart without giving up the work that she loved doing. Her face lit up and with a smile she uttered, “That’s what I was thinking before you talked with me! Thank you for telling me. I’ll go and try to apply sometime…”

With our conversation that lasted for 5 minutes, we both had shared a lot of information with each other. Interrupted when my friend came out from the shop beaming with a soft smile as she held a small box filled with the favorite flavors of those cupcakes. She was surprised to see me chatting with the lady knowing how usually, I was a quiet type.

“Have a good day and I wish you the best when you try to apply at the hospital!” I formally ended our conversation.

She gave me a huge smile but short with words as if she was still hungry for more conversation.

“Bye and thank you,” she finally said, jerking her legs harder as a blast of chilly air hit all around us.

I looked at that tall tower from the church the lady asked about. So beautiful outside but I wondered how it looked like inside. I kept staring at it and reminded me how this past week, as I read His Word, I came a lot with rebuilding the temple for the Lord until the second coming of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, the knowledge from Him is too much for me to take.

“Just something easy Lord but a simple truth,” I often asked Him. “Always lead me in Your truth…”

The setting sun’s rays hit the very top of the steeple and what a marvelous sight it was as the freeway started getting clogged up with people hurrying to go home, probably had hit the road many times that they didn't even pay attention to that soft, gold-like glow from the church. I saw myself in my rear view mirror in the car as my friend and I were both eating the rice bowls we got for dinner. This body that now is His temple that I better work hard to start rebuilding it, keeping it at its best until He returns. Because I want to be beautiful not only outside, but especially inside so His light in me will shine and prayerfully reaches those who work so hard to keep their houses nice looking but forgetting to build the true temple of God. Their hearts.

Time is short…Before the gate closes…