COME AS YOU ARE...

I shouldn't even admit this to you, but I will. It's a treat for me to get up and stay in my pajamas to cook breakfast and to clean and straighten up the house. Sometimes I'll stay in them until noon! It's not being lazy because I actually seem to work more that way than when I get dressed. However, I don't let myself do it very often because it's probably not a good habit!

This morning I didn't go to bed until 4:15 a.m. That's a treat, too (that many don't understand!). I'm very much a night owl. Our daughter was leaving this morning at 5:00 a.m. for an FFA event, so she woke up at 4:00 a.m. She was quite surprised when I was still up and she MADE me go to bed. She didn't want me to make her usual smoothie for breakfast - she did it herself. She did, however, let me get some money out of my purse for her to take for the day, but then told me to go to bed!

Our three boys have been at my parents house for a few days, so this morning it was just me in the house - cleaning, straightening, vacuuming, laundry, dishes, dusting....lots and lots of everyday things that you, too, know all about (never ending things!). I cranked up the music and lit all of the candles...that makes it seem like a party! I guess it was a party - a PAJAMA party, now that I think about it!

Anyway, as I worked around the house this morning, I was thinking about how I was still in my pajamas (and it was almost noon) and my mind drifted back to about 17 years ago. Four friends and I planned a special breakfast for the older ladies at church. It was on a Saturday morning and we decorated the fellowship building with old quilts for tablecloths and pretty dishes and silverware. We each made several different breakfast dishes and had them all ready for the breakfast. Then, each of us had a list of ladies to go and pick up from their homes. The catch was that the ladies we were going to pick up had no idea we were coming! We went to their homes, rang their doorbells, and invited them to the "Come As You Are Breakfast". It was so much fun and so special for the ladies! They came in their gowns, robes, house shoes, and curlers. No make-up and of course, everyone had a "bed head" hairdo! It was just great! We really need to do it again.

There is one time when we will all "Come As You Are". However, we do have an invitation telling us about it, except we just don't know "when" the even will take place. When Jesus comes back, we will all "Come As You Are". There will be no time to prepare on that day. No, the time to prepare is now.

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man..."Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." Matthew 25:36-39, and verse 42

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; The elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:8-10

Let's all be prepared to "Come As You Are" on that very special day!