Good gifts

Recently, I've been obsessed with reading missionary and overseas blogs. I was reading about a young couple in South Asia who recently lost a baby and nearly lost the mommy. The husband recounted the harrowing ordeal and ended by talking about their tiny stillborn daughter as an offering to God (not in a creepy Molech way, but in a "here's my grief, use it, Lord" sort of way.) I was reminded about how the Bible says in Revelation that we will receive crowns as our rewards for good deeds on earth. And how we, in turn, will cast those crowns before the Lamb, as only He is worthy to receive honor and glory. I was thinking what a beautiful crown this couple will have to lay at His feet.

What will my crown look like? Will I have a lovely thing to lay at the feet of my King? Will anything I have done survive the fire of purification? Or is it all done in my self-interest? I want to learn to live my life looking, as the Puritans said, with a single eye for His glory.