4:13 Podcast: Blue Flower Moments - Audio Pictures [BONUS]

KC Wright: Welcome to a bonus episode, a beautiful bonus episode of the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life, because you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Now, settle in for a special episode about Blue Flower Moments.

Here's your host and my soul sister, Jennifer Rothschild.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, my goodness, my people, you're about to love this. So we've been talking about the Heaven Bible study around here, and a blue flower is very significant. And so you're about to learn why. So if we're new friends, I'm Jennifer, and I really do want to share with you some Blue Flower Moments.

Okay. So as I mentioned, in my new Heaven Bible study, I try to depict, like, the longing for heaven, the ache for our forever home using the motif of a blue flower. And here's why. I first learned about it from none other than -- you're going to be so surprised, KC -- C.S. Lewis.

KC Wright: What?

Jennifer Rothschild: If we've been friends for long, you know I love C.S. Lewis. And so in his book "Surprised By Joy," he called himself a votary of the blue flower. Well, that was so unique to me. So first of all, a votary, it's just an old-fashioned way of saying a devote, like someone who's devoted to. So I was like, okay, C.S. Lewis is devoted to the blue flower, and I am devoted to C.S. Lewis.

Okay. So what in the world does that mean? All right. Well, in German romantic literature, the blue flower was used to represent or to capture longing, transcendence, beauty, the ache for the eternal. Like, it's almost this longing that is unmet, yet the not being met is still very satisfying. It's just this beautiful ache that is satisfying in and of itself. Well, that's how I feel about heaven. I do have this ache for the eternal.

So for me, when I created what I call these Blue Flower Moments, they're just moments that awaken my longing for heaven. They, like, stir my spiritual senses and they make me cast my gaze toward heaven. So I just thought I would take you into my Blue Flower Moments through these audio pictures, and maybe you can open your spiritual eyes, open your heart, and see with me these Blue Flower Moments.

[AUDIO PICTURE #1]

Jennifer Rothschild: So here I am out on the deck. Spring morning. The rain is still just drizzling. And the birds. Like, where I'm standing, it's like surround sound, like all creation is saying, "It's almost time, it's almost time, our redemption." I wonder if this is what it was like that weekend when Jesus was crucified. I know it was so very dark and sad for the followers who were confused, but I just think creation knew the Master was about to bust through and reverse the curse and redeem this whole earth and all creation and all created beings from the curse of death. This must have been what it sounded like.

So now I stand here right now and I literally am turning my head to follow the whole width and distance of where I'm hearing all the sound. And I know my eyes right now cannot see one single thing except dark, but I can see it in my imagination. I can see the blue flowers blooming. I can see the rain droplets glistening on the leaves of that Japanese maple. I can see how the drops of water are pooling and puddling on the wood of the deck. In my imagination, I can see every feather on those mourning doves and cardinals. And I just know if this captures my imagination and I think this is like exhaling into a beauty I've never known, then what in the world will it be like? I cannot even imagine. It's beyond what I can imagine.

This right here is the blue flower. It's the ache. I'm just going to call this moment, this morning, one of the seeds of the blue flower. That longing, that ache, the joy that comes from being and wanting, the joy that comes from possessing and wanting more, that's the blue flower. So let these seeds grow and grow and grow and continue to awaken in me and grow in me this longing and desire for my true home, my true country, the true beauty. This right here, it's not the point; it's one of the pointers.

[AUDIO PICTURE #2]

Jennifer Rothschild: This is an audio picture at -- almost 9:00 p.m., right, honey?

Dr. Phil: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Like May 25th. We're sitting out in a cove in the boat. You can hear the water lapping up against the boat. We had music playing, but we decided the birds were more beautiful. And there were some crickets, but it just got quiet. Phil said a little mama duck and her line of baby ducks just passed us.

[AUDIO PICTURE #3]

Jennifer Rothschild: (The song "Thank You Jesus for the Blood" playing.) Listen to that. A little taste of heaven when every tribe, every tongue, and every nation will be basking in the glory of the Lamb. We'll all sing the same song that Jesus redeemed us. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for Women of Joy gathering all these women. Yeah. That glorious light is going to be in a place also where there is no more night. We get to live it now and look forward to it then.

[AUDIO PICTURE #4]

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, it is the Saturday night before Labor Day 2023 and I'm sitting out here on the deck for just a few minutes by myself. Close to 9:00 p.m. And Lori and Todd have been here all weekend, and we've had such a blessing of a time. It's been so much fun. Lori and I have sung '70s music at the top of our lungs, we've been out on the boat, we've been to dinner. We've just talked about everything and nothing. And I've known Lori Cooley for 32 years, and for 32 years she's been one of my dearest friends and richest treasures. And it's a blessing to have her husband, Todd, who's also my brother and such a dear friend of Phil, as part of this beautiful time together.

So just taking a moment to pause and think and thank the Lord for my friends and for his kindness in giving me my friends and this time to just experience the joy of it all. Maybe this is part of the ache, the longing, the recognition that how good this is is just a foretaste of what it's going to be like forever and ever, because I don't like the thought of it ending tomorrow. But maybe that's because there's going to be a forever beginning when it's never going to end. Pure fellowship forever and ever in heaven.

[AUDIO PICTURE #5]

Jennifer Rothschild: I can't really see, of course, the light very well, but I can always tell when it's soft, because it doesn't hurt my eyes. And so it's really soft right now. The light is very soft. So I just know that it must be that grayish blue beautiful soft light. I don't know. If heaven has a soundtrack, I think this must be on the playlist. All creatures of our God and King.

[AUDIO PICTURE #6]

Jennifer Rothschild: Sitting outside here at The Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center. There's a creek babbling beneath us. Listen to how -- when I came out here, I thought of the line from the song, "The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music," and then I thought -- after studying heaven, all I could think when I heard all this beauty surrounding me is as beautiful as this is, what will it be when it's been redeemed and fully restored? Because this right here is still groaning. Wait till the glory. What is the New Earth going to be like? No wonder we have to have glorified bodies. These earthbound flesh ones just can't take it in. It's so beautiful. It is such a beautiful morning.

[AUDIO PICTURE #7]

Jennifer Rothschild: Early October, sitting out on the deck. Low '70s, warm afternoon with a cool breeze. Got me a cappuccino from Seven Brew, which is the new coffee shop near our house. Taking off the lid so that I can enjoy all the foam. Oh, yeah. It's the small things. It's the small things. Got to pause and notice the small things, because they represent -- they're like little glimpses, little shadows of all the good things to come.

[AUDIO PICTURE #8]

Jennifer Rothschild: Speaking of blue, can I ask you a question?

Jennifer's Grandson: What?

Jennifer Rothschild: So -- just because I want to hear what you just said about this. Did you think these blue flowers -- do you remember where these blue flowers were from?

Jennifer's Grandson: No.

Jennifer's Grandson: No.

Jennifer Rothschild: Do you remember that Gigi had --

Jennifer's Grandson: When you graduated?

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, like graduation? Yeah. It's when Gigi was teaching about heaven. But are they pretty still, or are they about to fade?

Jennifer's Grandson: They're still pretty.

Jennifer Rothschild: They are pretty.

Jennifer's Grandson: They're mostly blue and white.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, that's pretty, yeah.

Jennifer's Grandson: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Do you know what these flowers are called?

Jennifer's Grandson: What?

Jennifer Rothschild: Hydrangea.

Jennifer's Grandson: I might have actually heard of that.

Jennifer Rothschild: It's a hard word to say.

Jennifer's Grandson: Is that like flowers of God?

Jennifer Rothschild: They are like flowers of God. I like to think of them as flowers of God, because this flower reminds me of heaven because it's so beautiful.

Jennifer's Grandson: And I know that God is --

Jennifer's Grandson: And also [indecipherable] name?

Jennifer Rothschild: Well --

Jennifer's Grandson: And I also know that heaven is paradise.

Jennifer Rothschild: Heaven is paradise. That's right. How'd you learn that?

Jennifer's Grandson: Well, Mommy just told me that.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, Mommy's right, heaven is paradise.

Jennifer's Grandson: I think I knew that.

Jennifer Rothschild: You probably did. You know what?

Jennifer's Grandson: Because paradise means great.

Jennifer Rothschild: It sure does. It's going to be beautiful. Gigi just likes to imagine that there's blue flowers in heaven.

Jennifer's Grandson: Um, Gigi?

Jennifer Rothschild: What?

Jennifer's Grandson: So, like, in heaven, people just think, like, it's -- like the ground is made of water, but actually not. It's actually the whole town.

Jennifer Rothschild: The whole town is? Wow.

Jennifer's Grandson: Actually, the streets are made of gold, diamonds, and things like that.

Jennifer Rothschild: Really?

Jennifer's Grandson: And rubies.

Jennifer Rothschild: Wow. That's going to be beautiful.

Jennifer's Grandson: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Who gets to go to heaven?

Jennifer's Grandson: Grandpa Jolly.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, Grandpa Jolly went to heaven, that's for sure.

Jennifer's Grandson: Well, if you believe in him, then you will get to go to heaven.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's right, if you believe in Jesus, we go to heaven, yeah.

Jennifer's Grandson: But I must be nice?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. Well, when we believe in Jesus, we are nice.

Jennifer's Grandson: Yeah.

Jennifer Rothschild: But just being nice doesn't help us go to heaven. Only believing in Jesus lets us go to heaven.

[END OF AUDIO PICTURES]

Jennifer Rothschild: It is Christ who draws our hearts to beauty. He is the one who gives us capacity to even long for a deep joy that he alone can satisfy. So the Blue Flower Moments, they are pointers. They point to Jesus, who can satisfy every single longing.

So slow down. Notice your Blue Flower Moments. They are everywhere. And let each of those Blue Flower Moments draw you closer to heaven, and even more importantly, to the Treasure of Heaven, Jesus.

KC Wright: You can get a copy of the Heaven Bible study at 413podcast.com/Heaven or jenniferrothschild.com/Heaven. And there you can find Jennifer's heaven playlist, her favorite seven books about heaven, and even watch the first video teaching and read the very first chapter for free. Okay, enjoy your Blue Flower Moments.