Archives for April 2011

OK.  Y’all are gonna think I’m nuts, but let’s be honest, that wouldn’t be anything new.  Please don’t think that I am weird-er than you already think I am, but I just got the best e-mail.  This e-mail made my soul rejoice!  Seriously.   An I-want-to-do-a-happy-dance rejoicing. 

What was this mysterious e-mail and who sent it?  This is the part where y’all will think that I am weird.  It was from Robyn and it was about Holy Week 2011. 

Yes, Peeps, that is right, an email about Holy Week made me want to do a happy dance.  You see, I get excited about Holy Week the way children get excited about Christmas.  And I am not exaggerating. 

Over the last few years, I have been enormously blessed beyond words that my dear, sweet friend, Robyn loves the Easter season as much as I do, and it’s become quite a tradition for us to plan out our Holy Week by service hopping.  We go all out.  I’m talking Maundy Thursday service, Good Friday services (plural – meaning more than one), and a Saturday viewing of the Passion of the Christ (Robyn sits this one out, but it is a tradition for me to weep uncontrollably as the cruxifiction unfolds).  All these services culminate in an Easter blow-out celebration at church where my heart is full and my soul is glad. 

Last year, our bible study girls came along with us as we service hopped the week away.   As we were planning the activities last year, Robyn threw out, unbeknownst to her, a challenge when she said that the most wonderful Easter she could remember was a time when her pastor wrote a day-by-day devotion for Holy Week.  Now, I’m no pastor, but I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than writing down my reflections as the week progressed.  Over the course of holy week, I sent out an e-mail devotion.  This year, I’ll share those same reflections on the blog starting on Palm Sunday. 

My prayer is that God will use these reflections to show you His unimaginable love for you and that you might catch a glimpse of His Glory!

“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”  – Isaiah 61:10

Sometimes I forget that the people from the Bible actually lived. Movies and television have warped my mind to think of things fictitiously first. That default mentality crosses over into my bible reading where I consciously and intentionally have to remind myself of one truth: these were real people experiencing a real God.

These are not characters on a screen.  They were flesh and blood; bone and breathe. I forget sometimes that their feet hurt from walking and their bellies sometimes gurgled. I forget that they got colds or that they sometimes woke up on the wrong side of the pallet.

They put their tunics on every morning one sleeve at a time.
They argued with their spouses and yelled at their children.
They experienced fear and discouragement.
They even had ugly-girl laughs.

Not only do I forget that they were real people, but sometimes I forget that the God to whom they spoke is the same God whom we speak with today.

Wait.
Stop.
Don’t let that sentence slip haphazardly from your mind.  Let it pierce your soul.

When you pray…you are standing before the same God that Moses stood before in the Tabernacle.
When you sing…you are praising the same God that David praised with his harp.
When you cry out…you are crying out to the same God that Jesus cried out to on the cross.

How can we live our lives knowing that simple truth and not be changed forever?

Recently, a dear friend recounted a story from her work.  She observed, much to her discomfort, a lady correcting a man in her office.  The lady was not being rude or unprofessional; she was simply teaching an employee how to do his job with excellence. 

My indescribably compassionate friend, felt uncomfortable as she watched the scene unfold before her.  So, she stepped into the conversation in an attempt to alleviate the tension and discomfort.

The lady very politely looked at my friend, smiled and said something to the effect of, “Sit down.  I wasn’t talking to you.  I need to do this because he needs to learn.”

All of a sudden, I became very aware of how – in our limited understanding – we step in to “help” someone when God is trying to teach them a lesson.   

It is human nature to step in when someone is uncomfortable, embarrassed or hurting.  But sometimes that is not our role. 

At times, God’s role for us is to simply love them through whatever situation they are in; lead them to Him to find the answer; and listen as they work through the situation.

Yes.  Sometimes God calls us to step in and help, but before we jump in to save the day, let us make sure that God is not going to smile at us and say, “Sit down, Child.  I am not talking to you.  This is something she needs to learn.”