Rediscovering the joy of being with Christ

I've been a Christian for about 12 years, and in that time I've experienced the blessing of spending time alone with God at various stages of my life. One of these times was when I would go to the worship hall every Saturday evening and arrange any chairs which are out of place into orderly rows so that on Sunday the place will be tidy for the worship service. Not everyone sees the value of what I do, and that's understandable. For me, it's a simple and personal way for me to worship and adore the Lord, perhaps not too different to how the woman who came to Jesus with the alabaster box of expensive fragrance to anoint Him. Long story short, I did the chair arranging thing for quite some time; I don't remember how long I've been doing it. But somehow, someway, I stopped doing it and to this day I still don't know why. So the years passed, and it wasn't until last Saturday night when I went to church to pray with a brother. After we finished praying, we started to put some of the chairs back to where they belong. The brother asked me if I remember the times I used to come in every Saturday night to arrange the chairs. I felt kind of embarrased as I said yes, and I told him that I would like to arrange the chairs alone if that was okay. He was okay with it and left the worship hall. As I started arranging the chairs, thoughts came flooding back to my mind about the times past when I was alone with the Lord in the worship hall arranging the chairs. I remembered how I used to bring my mp3 player with me to the worship hall and listened to sermons and hymns. I would be thinking about God as I moved the chairs into position, and since no one else was there except me and God, I felt safe enough to break out into song without feeling embarrased with my singing going out of tune, not being able to remember the words to a hymn, or something like that. It was one of those times when I could really be myself in the presence of my Lord. I could speak to the Lord openly and not having to be secretive about it. So for me, that Saturday was a night to remember, because it was truly something that I had missed for all these years. I remember one of the national youth camp messages I heard last year about returning to our first love. I remembered Bro Peter Blake telling us that we never lose our first love; it is we who leave our first love. So, in a way, coming back on Saturday and arranging the chairs in preparation for the worship service the next day is for me a return to my first love, albeit in a small way. But that simple act of doing what I used to do all those years ago has made me want to come back the following Saturday and so on. Thank God for His faithfulness and love for me that never dies.