Fly Away - A Devotion

Psalm 90:10  "The days of our years are three-score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

Yesterday we drove to the town of Chemainus, down to the beach where there was a lovely breeze and an outgoing tide.  In the Cowichan Valley where we live it was very hot, almost 90 degrees, and so this breeze was very welcome.  We sat on a log which was shaded by a large tree, enjoying the relief from the oppressive heat back home.

Offshore there is a lighthouse on a rocky knoll and we watched as a group of people set out to walk to it.  If it was an incoming tide, this would have been a very dangerous thing to do as they had small children with them who could walk most of the way but had to be carried the rest of the way. Had the tide been incoming, they would have been trapped.  One of the men was carrying what looked like a large blow-up chair and husband and I assumed that they were going to set out blankets and spend some time on the rocks which had no shade at all.  We couldn't have been more wrong. Not long after they all reached the rocks and had gathered together, we saw a huge dragon-fly climbing up in the sky and we thought it was a kite, because one of the men appeared to be holding a large container where the string would be.  But then the dragon-fly got too far away to be a kite, and we saw that it was a helium balloon shaped like a dragon-fly.  It flew higher, over the trees and towards the town of Chemainus.  Then the container turned out to be a large red heart-shaped helium balloon which climbed into the sky and followed after the dragon-fly.  There was another balloon as well, but it was smaller and darker, I don't know what it was. 

After the balloons were released, the group of adults and children made their way back to the shore and husband and I left the beach and drove home.  I wondered what this balloon-releasing meant.  That was certainly the intention of the trip out to the rocky knoll, it seemed rather a long way to walk to entertain children, and it was the adults that released the balloons, not the children. I came to the conclusion that it was a memorial to someone who had recently passed away, or perhaps a memorial to someone who had passed away years ago. At any rate, when I got home I looked up "fly away" at Blue Letter Bible and settled on Psalm 90:10 "The days of our years are three-score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

This is an interesting verse to me. Our years are 70, but if by reason of strength we live to be 80, those last years might be sorrowful and difficult.  I know that as a senior lady, the time for me now is surely not as easy as it was even 10 years ago..  strength is diminished, some pain has set in.  Often I long to be absent from this body and present with the Lord.  But continuing on with V10,  it says that our life is "soon cut off and we fly away."..  soon by the standards of how really brief our lives are on this earth, considering the span of time there has been life on earth, since the Creation.  And we fly away, but where?  As a believer who is saved by grace through faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I will "fly away" to be with Him.  I've often thought that an angel will take each believer at the moment of passing from this earth to be with the Lord, but that is only my own thought.

And yet, what about those who do not know the Lord?  how sad can this be?  These people when they "fly away" will not be in a place of peace to say the least.  And so I wonder about those people who let those balloons "fly away" today.  I hope that they were memorializing a believer who has gone to be with the Lord Jesus.  Far better than the alternative, that they are letting those balloons go for someone who has left this earth, and is not in that perfect place of peace.

Dear reader, when you leave this earth, where will you "fly away" to?  Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."  John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved....."

The last verses of Psalm 90 are very comforting and offer encouragement to the believer.  V14 “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us…V17..let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

These last verses really mean a lot to me, and I am so thankful to have found them today.  That even though I may be afflicted with physical and even emotional pain, make me glad, and not sad.  Let the beauty of the Lord my God be upon me, and establish the work of my hands, whatever your will for me is, even my blogs which are dedicated to sharing the Word of God.

Thank you Lord Jesus for taking us to Chemainus today to witness these balloons, and to lead me to Psalm 90.  I will never know the true reason for the balloon release, but to dwell on Psalm 90:10 was needful for me.

Amen.