Last week to celebrate Palm Sunday, I read through each of the Gospel accounts of the Triumphal Entry. The day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a humble donkey. People laid out their coats for Him and waved palm branches chanting phrases we are familiar with but rarely utter aloud. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” and “Hosanna in the highest”!
While each gospel is similar, some details are different. The one that jumped off the page and grabbed my attention was in the book of Luke. Jesus was coming through town as I described above which made some religious leaders very nervous and uneasy. Check out Luke 19:38-42.
“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’ As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.’”
First, the fact that the people were making a lot of noise praising God for Jesus and His coming kingdom is exciting. Their day had arrived. The one they’d been waiting for. The Savior, right in their midst. Some knew it and did what comes naturally when the supernatural coincides with the natural – break out into praise.
One would think the religious leaders would be out in front of the parade. After all, they were the studied, the experts of the law of God, weren’t they? Why weren’t they participating at the very least? Instead, they were telling Jesus to keep the people quiet. I just love His response. My paraphrase – “better let them go – nothing can stop ‘em! If they don’t do it – you’ll have more happening than you’ll know what to do with.”
Secondly, Jesus’ response when overlooking the city of people He came to save, who rejected His message and His love. Jesus was so overcome with emotion that He wept. And those next words are powerful. What did He mean by “if you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”? He meant that this moment was prophecy fulfilled! Daniel and Zechariah predicted this day. It’s so sad they didn’t see it – and weren’t looking for it. And because they didn’t, the dark consequence is that ‘now it is hidden from your eyes’.
What I see here are some practical applications for us. I’ll put it simply.
1. Know Scripture so that you know what’s happening in your world. When things come to pass as the Scriptures predict (and there’s still so much more to come, friends), let’s be expecting it – not caught unaware and then skeptical.
2. See with new eyes and fresh understanding that Jesus came to give us peace. You know that is what we are all looking for. No worries, no wondering, instead, a firm faith in God who is trustworthy.
3. The dangerous consequences that illumination is a window of opportunity which won’t always be open. If we choose not to see, we’ll lose the ability. He weeps when we choose not to notice Him or believe His Word.
Easter is a triumphant day. New life. Spring. Eggs hatching. Bulbs blooming. It’s all related. And it’s all because of Jesus. We celebrate Christ’s victory over the grave. We recognize His resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. We, too, can live in victory over sin and death. That’s the whole point.
Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.”
I pray that you will let loose this weekend and cry out “Hosanna” to your King. Call Him “blessed”! Recognize that He came for you. He came to give you peace. His gift is resurrection power living inside you to give you life – abundant life!
And He came to bring your friends and neighbor’s peace. They are looking for it. I hope they see it demonstrated in the life of every believer. Do they see the peace of God in your life? Peace that says we are loved and our futures are secure in Christ. Not dependent on works or prayers or effort.
So take a moment to offer Jesus’ gift to someone you know who is not at peace. Not with life. Not with man. Not with God. Someone who is a worrier. Someone who is trying to control every aspect of his/her life. Someone who lives in fear of the future or maybe even fear of the present or past. Bet you know someone, just like I do. We’ve got a glorious message to tell.
We’d better get moving – just like the ladies and the disciples at the tomb did when they realized that all He said was true! Remember what the angel said – “I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.” Matt. 28:5-6
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Time for a Change
Guess what I did today? I got the remaining Rubbermaid bins out of the basement to put away the last of the Christmas decorations. I know what you’re thinking, “Are you kidding me? It’s March already!” Ok so it took me a while this year. Truly I did put the majority back in the crawlspace right after New Year’s. Well, maybe it was more toward the end of January, but who’s keeping track? It’s so disappointing to put away all the shiny red ornaments, white lights and memory-filled items and replace them with…well, nothing. Not another holiday or season in sight! When there’s not a lot of snow it can be a dreary time of year. And truthfully, it’s just that I have some stuff that I can’t bear to only enjoy for a month out of the year. I admit it, I had a hard time putting away my two Kenyan Nativity sets, our clock that plays a Christmas carol every hour, the Christmas puzzle we put together and framed, and photos chronicling our family celebrations through the years. So I chose to leave a lot of it up for a while to keep the beauty and joy alive. It never occurs to me that I’ve left it up too long until a guest observes, and comments.
I really do love the changing of the seasons. Every one of them. Of course, winter is my favorite. Not only for Christmas and snow, but because it’s sweater weather. And casserole weather. Because we hunker down in our houses and sit closer together (maybe to keep warm). We play more board games and go to bed earlier because it’s dark sooner. We hibernate in a way. And that’s good. For a while….
But today’s a different day. They say you’ll know when it’s time. Today it was time. I suspect it had to do with the warm, sunny 50-degree day we were blessed with this week. We took off our coats, drove with the windows down and even stopped for soft ice cream after school. We were celebrating the hope and arrival of Spring. I especially love when the neighbors are out. It seems everywhere you looked they were there. Washing cars, walking dogs, riding bikes. Yup, we’re ready to break free and get outside.
I’m probably also ready because we are looking forward to going south for spring break from school. Just 35 days until we are putting our pale faces in the sun and walking on the beach and swimming in a pool. Wearing flip-flops, not boots! Making memories together and visiting distant family. Having something to look ahead toward such as this is what keeps me going when winter is dragging on.
It’s time to put off the winter doldrums and look ahead to Spring. Easter is such a vivid picture of this. And it’s so much earlier this year! When Jesus rose from the dead that dreary morning, with Him came all of our hope. There is new life! Old things have died – behold all things are new! It’s one more opportunity for us to be renewed. To have new breath breathed into our lungs. To look up, smile and go forward with a positive attitude. You know, like the kind of great attitude we have when the sun is shining, grass is getting green and flower buds start to appear.
So, what are you looking forward to in the coming months? I hope it’s something fun like a family vacation. Or some time off from work. Or reading a good book. Or a visit from a friend. Or sitting outside reading your Bible. Or taking long walks in a park. If you haven’t thought of anything yet why not start planning? Give yourself permission to dream. Pursue God with a renewed passion. Ask Him to SHINE His glory into your life. Don’t fall for the enemy’s scheme of mediocrity. Life doesn’t have to be boring. You were created for so much more. One of my favorite verses that motivates me to see things through God’s eyes is this one: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (2 Cor. 2:9) Or how about this one? “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor. 4:16—17)
Look up! Winter’s almost over. Embrace the future with expectation. You might just get a “spring” in your step as you anticipate what great things God has for you in this next season. So, the boxes are in the basement and the Christmas/winter remains are out of sight until the day after Thanksgiving … (By the way, I heard on the radio yesterday that there’s only 297 days until Christmas – but that’s not relevant here.) ….and I’m happy.
I really do love the changing of the seasons. Every one of them. Of course, winter is my favorite. Not only for Christmas and snow, but because it’s sweater weather. And casserole weather. Because we hunker down in our houses and sit closer together (maybe to keep warm). We play more board games and go to bed earlier because it’s dark sooner. We hibernate in a way. And that’s good. For a while….
But today’s a different day. They say you’ll know when it’s time. Today it was time. I suspect it had to do with the warm, sunny 50-degree day we were blessed with this week. We took off our coats, drove with the windows down and even stopped for soft ice cream after school. We were celebrating the hope and arrival of Spring. I especially love when the neighbors are out. It seems everywhere you looked they were there. Washing cars, walking dogs, riding bikes. Yup, we’re ready to break free and get outside.
I’m probably also ready because we are looking forward to going south for spring break from school. Just 35 days until we are putting our pale faces in the sun and walking on the beach and swimming in a pool. Wearing flip-flops, not boots! Making memories together and visiting distant family. Having something to look ahead toward such as this is what keeps me going when winter is dragging on.
It’s time to put off the winter doldrums and look ahead to Spring. Easter is such a vivid picture of this. And it’s so much earlier this year! When Jesus rose from the dead that dreary morning, with Him came all of our hope. There is new life! Old things have died – behold all things are new! It’s one more opportunity for us to be renewed. To have new breath breathed into our lungs. To look up, smile and go forward with a positive attitude. You know, like the kind of great attitude we have when the sun is shining, grass is getting green and flower buds start to appear.
So, what are you looking forward to in the coming months? I hope it’s something fun like a family vacation. Or some time off from work. Or reading a good book. Or a visit from a friend. Or sitting outside reading your Bible. Or taking long walks in a park. If you haven’t thought of anything yet why not start planning? Give yourself permission to dream. Pursue God with a renewed passion. Ask Him to SHINE His glory into your life. Don’t fall for the enemy’s scheme of mediocrity. Life doesn’t have to be boring. You were created for so much more. One of my favorite verses that motivates me to see things through God’s eyes is this one: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (2 Cor. 2:9) Or how about this one? “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor. 4:16—17)
Look up! Winter’s almost over. Embrace the future with expectation. You might just get a “spring” in your step as you anticipate what great things God has for you in this next season. So, the boxes are in the basement and the Christmas/winter remains are out of sight until the day after Thanksgiving … (By the way, I heard on the radio yesterday that there’s only 297 days until Christmas – but that’s not relevant here.) ….and I’m happy.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Growing up....Together
Something unexpected happened to me this month. Not totally, I knew it was coming, but still, it snuck up on me. I became the mother of a 16-year-old. I have to confess it didn’t come without a truckload of emotions. On a shallow level, “How did I get so old?” Yet on a much deeper level, “Where did the time go?” Not to mention, “Yikes, we only have 2 years left!”
I remember that snowy morning, married almost 2 years, living in a small apartment across the street from the hospital in Hornell, NY when I awoke to popping sound and subsequent warm, fuzzy feeling. As I hopped out of bed in lightning speed, Scott said I hadn’t moved that fast in months. Within 10 hours, I was surrounded by family and friends and delivered a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby boy. Talk about a shock to my dark-haired, dark-eyed Italian family!
He was not just any baby, though. He was the one we would later and still today refer to as “perfect baby”. He came in perfect textbook fashion and has pretty much followed “the rules” all his life. He’s brought more smiles and joy than we could have expected. Family members often recount how we would just sit around and watch him. Like he was a dog doing tricks. In awe, we watched him roll over, we watched him crawl, we watched him walk, we watched him play. We are still watching him – now it’s when he plays basketball. There’s no prouder mama in the stands! (Well, maybe, but I doubt it.) He’s been a dream come true – except for the occasional teasing of his siblings! And we thank God for that important privilege of being his parents.
The other night he was preparing to attend a 2-day retreat with his school classmates. I asked him if he needed help packing. “No, I can do it.” Man, he’s getting grown up. I was up early the next morning praying for him. I was asking God to do a great work in his life while he’s away with his youth pastor, teachers and friends. I prayed that He would not just love God and do the right things because he’s a good rule follower and doesn’t want to cause trouble or suffer consequences. Rather, that he’d get a cool new look at God and love Him more than anything else in his world not because it’s expected of him, but because he can’t help it and wants to.
I thanked God for what a great kid Drew is. I told Him how much I love Drew. It sounded something like, “Lord, I love that kid so much!” Which was followed by “I know you love Him millions more.” Obviously, this was not new news to me, but it was staggering nonetheless. I recognized that if I, a sinful, selfish mother loves this boy this much, how amazing that God who is perfect, having created this boy in His own image and has a great plan for His life, loves him even more. Wow – that should eliminate any worry or controlfreakishness (my word) on my part, shouldn’t it?
Before I could digest the wonder of a God who loves His own like that, He blew me away with another one. In my heart I heard: “Angela, I love you like that too. You know how much you like to brag about Drew and the young man he’s becoming? I see that in you. You know how special you feel when he spots you in a crowd and smiles affectionately or unexpectedly throws his arm around you? That’s how I feel about you when you turn your attention to me. Every time you prefer me to something lesser, it is worship. Every time you deny yourself and put others first, it is worship. Every time you obey me or thank me or remember me, my heart swells like yours every time Drew does. I am your Father and I have my eye on you just the same way you have your loving, protective eye on these kids.”
Whew. You could have blown me over with a feather. How I crave that kind of love. For the most part, it’s easy for me to show love to all three of my kids even though it comes from this sinful, selfish heart of mine. How much more amazing to be loved completely, perfectly by One who is pure!
Perhaps this experience is an answer to a recent prayer pattern I’ve been in. Asking God to remind me of basic truths I’ve known for a long time. To allow me to see Him in the faces of others. Begging Him to not let me read well worn, often preached passages with a same old same old attitude. Instead, I want him to really blow me away and open my eyes so I read them like it’s the first time. So I can see our ever-present God everywhere.
I dare you to do the same. If you’re in a rut or feeling spiritually flat or maybe like God is distant – don’t stay there. Ask for fresh new eyes and insight. Ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you so that you can love Him more and honor Him with every part of your life.
It may be emotional and even cause some pain, but it will be worth it. He’s got His eye on you, girl. And He loves you. No matter what. Last week I wrote you and encouraged you to spend some time in Ephesians. Well, I did it too. You know that’s where all this came from, don’t you? There’s a lot of love in that book. For me and for you. And for those we love. Stay in there until you are settled comfortably in it. If you find this great love for you hard to imagine or fathom, that’s excellent! God expected you to feel that way and wrote some verses just for you.
“I pray…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Eph. 3:14-21 Oh yeah!
Be on the lookout – He may surprise you where He shows up. Like in the face of a not-so-little-anymore little boy. Yeah, he’s growing up (a little too fast) right along with his mom who still has some growing to do herself.
I remember that snowy morning, married almost 2 years, living in a small apartment across the street from the hospital in Hornell, NY when I awoke to popping sound and subsequent warm, fuzzy feeling. As I hopped out of bed in lightning speed, Scott said I hadn’t moved that fast in months. Within 10 hours, I was surrounded by family and friends and delivered a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby boy. Talk about a shock to my dark-haired, dark-eyed Italian family!
He was not just any baby, though. He was the one we would later and still today refer to as “perfect baby”. He came in perfect textbook fashion and has pretty much followed “the rules” all his life. He’s brought more smiles and joy than we could have expected. Family members often recount how we would just sit around and watch him. Like he was a dog doing tricks. In awe, we watched him roll over, we watched him crawl, we watched him walk, we watched him play. We are still watching him – now it’s when he plays basketball. There’s no prouder mama in the stands! (Well, maybe, but I doubt it.) He’s been a dream come true – except for the occasional teasing of his siblings! And we thank God for that important privilege of being his parents.
The other night he was preparing to attend a 2-day retreat with his school classmates. I asked him if he needed help packing. “No, I can do it.” Man, he’s getting grown up. I was up early the next morning praying for him. I was asking God to do a great work in his life while he’s away with his youth pastor, teachers and friends. I prayed that He would not just love God and do the right things because he’s a good rule follower and doesn’t want to cause trouble or suffer consequences. Rather, that he’d get a cool new look at God and love Him more than anything else in his world not because it’s expected of him, but because he can’t help it and wants to.
I thanked God for what a great kid Drew is. I told Him how much I love Drew. It sounded something like, “Lord, I love that kid so much!” Which was followed by “I know you love Him millions more.” Obviously, this was not new news to me, but it was staggering nonetheless. I recognized that if I, a sinful, selfish mother loves this boy this much, how amazing that God who is perfect, having created this boy in His own image and has a great plan for His life, loves him even more. Wow – that should eliminate any worry or controlfreakishness (my word) on my part, shouldn’t it?
Before I could digest the wonder of a God who loves His own like that, He blew me away with another one. In my heart I heard: “Angela, I love you like that too. You know how much you like to brag about Drew and the young man he’s becoming? I see that in you. You know how special you feel when he spots you in a crowd and smiles affectionately or unexpectedly throws his arm around you? That’s how I feel about you when you turn your attention to me. Every time you prefer me to something lesser, it is worship. Every time you deny yourself and put others first, it is worship. Every time you obey me or thank me or remember me, my heart swells like yours every time Drew does. I am your Father and I have my eye on you just the same way you have your loving, protective eye on these kids.”
Whew. You could have blown me over with a feather. How I crave that kind of love. For the most part, it’s easy for me to show love to all three of my kids even though it comes from this sinful, selfish heart of mine. How much more amazing to be loved completely, perfectly by One who is pure!
Perhaps this experience is an answer to a recent prayer pattern I’ve been in. Asking God to remind me of basic truths I’ve known for a long time. To allow me to see Him in the faces of others. Begging Him to not let me read well worn, often preached passages with a same old same old attitude. Instead, I want him to really blow me away and open my eyes so I read them like it’s the first time. So I can see our ever-present God everywhere.
I dare you to do the same. If you’re in a rut or feeling spiritually flat or maybe like God is distant – don’t stay there. Ask for fresh new eyes and insight. Ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you so that you can love Him more and honor Him with every part of your life.
It may be emotional and even cause some pain, but it will be worth it. He’s got His eye on you, girl. And He loves you. No matter what. Last week I wrote you and encouraged you to spend some time in Ephesians. Well, I did it too. You know that’s where all this came from, don’t you? There’s a lot of love in that book. For me and for you. And for those we love. Stay in there until you are settled comfortably in it. If you find this great love for you hard to imagine or fathom, that’s excellent! God expected you to feel that way and wrote some verses just for you.
“I pray…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Eph. 3:14-21 Oh yeah!
Be on the lookout – He may surprise you where He shows up. Like in the face of a not-so-little-anymore little boy. Yeah, he’s growing up (a little too fast) right along with his mom who still has some growing to do herself.
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