Weeping* on Willow

The Day After Easter For forty days I've posted my reflections as I've worked to prepare my heart for Easter.  My intent was to spend forty days giving up any part of the day that would normally be spent on myself like eating breakfast, watching Jude during soccer practice, lying in bed before I fall asleep and then trying to be extremely efficient with my everyday work to create a solid amount of time to devote to reading scripture, taking notes, studying, praying, thinking and then writing reflections from the day.  There was also time that I’d just sit quietly, yielding to God.  Listening with an open heart.  One doesn’t get vulnerable with God without being changed.  I certainly sit here at the end of this forty day journey of preparing my heart, changed.  Allowing myself to walk into Scripture with a real presence, I could feel myself draining out as God poured Himself in.  There were days that after spending time walking beside my Savior i...

I originally wrote today's reflection 3 years ago.  Although I’ve added a bit, it remains mostly the same. It is a letter from me specifically to the unbeliever or the person deeply struggling with an overwhelming doubt concerning the existence of God.  It is with all my love, I share this reflection with you. 1 Day until Easter Was it in your 10th grade biology class that you saw the “evidence” before you that disproved creation, presented by the teacher who had watched a renowned physicist discuss his theories in a History Channel documentary, that planted a seed of doubt?  Was it a person in your life who was so horrible to you that you really couldn't believe that a loving God could give you that kind of life?  Was the seed of doubt planted because a love of your life, one you felt was an anchor of your soul, was taken from you?  Or maybe it's not even that deep for you.  You're a sceptic.  You tend to like to see the proof and the existenc...

2 Days until Easter Darkness fell. A thick gloom crept into every crevice.   A blanket of the deepest black enveloped the earth.  For three hours, night filled the day.  The sun mourned.  The stars grieved.  The waves raged.  The winds roared.  The earth squalled from her deep.   The Creator of the universe, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, my Lord hung on a cross on the hill of Calvary, His body illuminated by the fire-lit torches below.  He looked up to God and cried, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” That is to say, My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)  In that moment, a black hole of anguish, a boundless depth of despair fell on our Savior. A moment in darkness.  A moment endured out of love.  A moment endured for me and for you. Just as immeasurable was His lament, so was His love.  He was forsaken for us, bearing our iniquities.  “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to ...

3 Days until Easter His hands.  That’s where my heart will focus today.  On His precious hands.  As a mama, there is something dear about the hands of my children.  Their hands are what reach for me when they are in need.  Their hands are what join us physically.  In our happiest times and our times of greatest grief, we've been connected by our hands. Their hands are what I’ve grabbed from their bedside when they were sick or scared or sad.  Without Margo and Jude even being in my presence, I can feel their hands.  Each individual hand.  Because the love of a mother latches on to little details like that.  The memory of a moment brands itself on a mother’s heart and the touch of her child’s hand sticks with her forever. And sitting here reflecting, my heart aches thinking about my Savior's hands. I can't help but wonder what it was like in their final moment. Mother and Son. The hands of Jesus, had transformed in His 33 yea...

4 Days until Easter Today I’ll hike the path.  I’ll push my way through the crowds.  Catching glimpses of Him along the way. I’ll pass Mary as she buries herself into John’s embrace.  All the way up to Calvary’s hill.  A parade in route to the gravest execution in history, the procession to Golgotha was led by a centurion and complete Roman military guard.  One of the soldiers carried a sign that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”.  It was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.  There was no denying Who this Man was.  In the custom of Roman crucifixions, soldiers carried signs that displayed the criminal’s name and crime, and then at the time of the crucifixion, the sign was attached atop the cross.  His name is Jesus and His accused crime was being King of the Jews. This journey to Golgotha was such a contrast to the journey He had taken at the beginning of that very week as He came down from the Mount of Olives and into Jerusal...

5 Days until Easter This was no grandiose royal parade.  There were no bannered trumpets.  There were no high-stepping thoroughbred processions.  There were no jewels or velvet.  There was no gold crown and scepter.  He was a King.  His mission was greater than any other king who ever was or ever will be.  He would go to battle for all mankind.  His name is Jesus.   There He stood, the kindest, most compassionate Man.  Meek and humble, perfect and without even a thought deserving of blame, the Son of God in human form.  There was no pomp.  No vanity.  Most kings ride into battle on a horse.  He staggered in, barefoot, carrying a rugged tree.  Most kings are greeted with trumpets and cheers.  He was mocked and spit upon.  Most kings march in wearing metals of high prestige on their velvet cloaks.  He wore ribbons of flesh dangling freely from His body and dripping with blood. Most kings we...