Responding
I watched, just minutes ago, the ground outside my window turn white as hail filled the air. A white covering just appearing, blanketing everything with a thin layer of icy pellets. Now, the sun is shining spring-bright. All the greens and leaf-yellows of new growth on the trees and bushes proclaim, “Winter is over; Spring has come!” Just a few days ago, inches of snow cancelled schools, clogged roads and made me yearn for a warm fire.
How like Jesus, to send along a timely reminder that our lives, like a yearning for warmer days, fill up with reactions to what’s just been, what’s going on, and what’s coming soon. I think of all the ways our week shifted because of the weather. How work and family, expectations and demands took a back seat to the immediate impact of just weather. Thousands lost power; plans to care for the kids slid all over the road; and people held their breath as the next forecasted event came.
The heart of this is, “Do I remember God in all these changes and feelings?” My thoughts move to the throne room, as heavenly beings sing night and day, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, The Almighty one, who was and is and is to come!” Worshipping humans hear this song of worship, fall down and shout aloud, “You are Worthy, oh Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things.”
Easter week helps me to remember. I am struck that the heavenly beings say, “The Lord” and the humans add, “Our Lord.” This week helps me regain my focus on the truth that I am created and have the honor of responding to the one who gave me my very being. God took pleasure in all the things He’s created. Father God, Jesus the saving Son, and Lord Spirit, the life giver, all are seen and experienced in the sweep of three days: a supper with friends, a betrayal, the brutal abuse, a shameful death on a cross, entombed three days, and the amazing resurrection. That which was dead, came back to life! Jesus who died; rose as King, Champion, Savior, the Glory of God.
What good news! What hope; that this life of mine is now in Jesus and somehow, God has made my life a part of that glorious “was, and is and is to come.” Why do I so often fail to hold onto Him and His incredible truth?
I stepped out the door to see the effects of the snow and hail. Tree debris strewn everywhere. Bushes, flower stems, and branches bent in awkward twists and shapes, some even flattened to the ground. A splash of purple flower pokes out of the ice. I caught a slight scent; a tiny purple trumpet of Daphne sweetly smelling of life. I inhaled deeply of the blossom, smelling the promise of spring while my eyes see only winter’s damaging effects. Paul said:
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15”
This week’s wintery blast and a flower’s smell, prompts me to consider my daily choice: remember Him or live for myself. The air does smell fresh and cleansed, even though the skies are darkened still. As I walk, I see more damage to the trees all around me. Broken limbs shorn away from the life-giving trunks of the trees. This weather-weighted tearing asunder, branches from limbs, leaves from blooms.
Again, I am thankful for Jesus nudging me into the meaning beyond the destruction. When I am looking to Him in my day’s start and as I spend my hours, I experience the life and peace He offers all of us. When I am all about myself, investing my minutes in worldly pursuits and making provisions for my all my wants apart from Jesus, there’s frustration, a breaking away, damage, and even the dying of things within and without. Again, I asked myself, “Why do I lose sight of God’s best ways? I thank you God; these days of Easter help me to set my sights on you!” Paul calls out:
17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Philippians 3:17-4:1”
So as I began the task of cleaning up: taking blossoms inside to set in a vase, and cleaning up limbs and rescuing plants, I remind myself that today I am able to have Jesus mend and heal and reset my whole self into Him. My life God knew as time began. My need He carried on His back to the Cross. My future hope he secured as his last words expelled from human lungs, “It is finished”.
Richard