The day was filled with all of that in many forms.
Maybe you’ve had a chance to reflect on this Lenten season, this Holy time of preparation and waiting. Maybe you’ve realized something about yourself that you didn’t know before.
Maybe you’ve contemplated ways that you still need to improve.
Maybe you are happy with your keeping of Lenten promises. Maybe you wish you had done things a bit differently.
Maybe you were given gifts of grace that brought you to tears. Maybe you realized great love.
Regardless, in just a little bit of time, Easter is coming.
Set all your human-ness aside for that day. Look at the One who loves you unconditionally; who is ready to greet you again and again with Love.
He has paid every price. He already knows your human-ness. He created you. Nothing is a surprise to Him.
I bought a rose bush this morning to honor the memory of my best friend. A drunk driver took her away from me on this day five years ago. I spoke to her that morning. A few hours later, she was gone.
I thought I’d die.
That year began a journey of losses and realizations and change. Over and over, death stared me in the face. Then, the very next year my husband was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. Again…
I thought I’d die.
Some days I really wanted to.
I do not have the answers to why people suffer and struggle. And even though some say Jesus already suffered for us all, we know the reality is that we still suffer here.
This isn’t a post about looking for the good. It’s a post about realizing even though.
Even though there is pain and loss and suffering…
Even though we sometimes live seasons when the world is falling apart around us…
Even though we are not sure how the light will come to us again…
I’m only here to remind us all…
The Light is in you. It is deep within you and will never be extinguished. It is waiting for when the day comes you are able to walk in it again.
Unconditionally.
Today, I pray for the broken-hearted. For the world at large. For all those who suffer physically, mentally, spiritually.
Back to the rose bush. A dear and mutual friend gave me a rose bush to plant in memory of our friend. She planted one, too. Hers, five years later is blooming in yellow radiance. She sent me a picture of it. I confessed mine didn’t make it, but today I am trying again. Pink double blooms for a woman named Waydean.
When I drove up with it to the area I’d decided on, one lone cardinal greeted me as if it say Finally.
Book lovers like me at a local college event. Take all the books you want. Help us out here. My kind of place! I loaded up on books that I’ll have fun repurposing into art journals. I found some good reads in the stacks as well. And it was so beautiful this morning…a perfect temperature and light breeze among the trees as readers like myself took our time browsing.
A knitting friend I’ve known for about three years. We meet weekly at s local yarn shop to laugh and create and enjoy our retired moments of freedom to do things we like. The shop owners have adjusted their summer hours, but they kept our time open. I’m pretty sure they did that for us. 🙂
A teacher friend I’ve known for several years. We are both teaching night classes at the same college, and we generally get to visit for a few minutes before class. She watched my latest grand baby video. I got to see some family pictures of her dad and a special gift he made for her recently. We both recognize the preciousness of shared moments like this: moments we celebrate the happinesses of life with others.
My W night college Comp class. They were full of energy and conversation tonight. It is fulfilling to see 22 adults from all walks of life interact and laugh and learn together. I always leave smiling.
The pizza maker. Thanks for that pick up window ready-to-go dinner.
Ordinary encounters with everyday people. Strangers and familiar folks come in and out of our lives every day.
Beautiful beings. We get to be part of that network of humanity. We get to choose to be beautiful. What a gift.
What do those words mean to you? Will you live differently this week? More mindfully?
Or, will this week be yet another week in your life that is no different than the one before it?
I look at this week as kind of a “last call” before the big event of Easter. Time to get the inside and outside ready, so to speak.
My Lenten plans are written in a notebook. I’ll review them tonight. I might wince at how fast the time went, how much I still want to do. I might sigh at repeated themes: how hard it is to follow plans sometimes.
Yesterday, I was supposed to meet my son and his family for early mass. I slept right through the alarms. (Yes, plural.)
I went to a later mass at another church in my town. I was still late to that one. (See something I need to work on? I know.)
Anyway, I sat in a back pew and watched a little girl a few seats away making crosses from palms. I was making one, too. It’s kind of a tradition, one that brings to mind my daughter. A special memory.
I listened to the Passion as I braided my cross. I recalled previous Palm Sundays when I felt ashamed to participate in reading the part of the play where the crowd says Crucify him. Crucify him.
From an early age, I remember feeling truly sad that this would be my line. I listened to the congregation read in unison, but it was a moment of realization for me–I could feel the result of those words in my soul. Some years, I only mouthed the words. Some years, I didn’t speak them at all.
Yesterday was like that. I sat and listened and pictured the scene and realized that each year God reminds me in this tangible way of how much He gave up for me, for us.
Later in the mass, I stepped into the vestibule and brought in a couple more palms and handed one to the child. She had a pile of crosses, but had run out of palms. At the end of mass, she handed me one of her creations with a hug. Here, ma’am. I made this one for you.
I left the palms in the car until today. They’ve already changed so much…just in one day, the drying process has started. The green is already faded significantly. These palm frond crosses are a visible reminder of how much we change from day to day. At some point in the coming year, they may become brittle and even break. But next year, there will be fresh green ones again. And the scene will repeat until the day comes when we don’t have to wait anymore for Christ to return.
Tonight I’m reminded to look deeper at the people in my life and see something I missed before.
I was visiting someone earlier today and saw one of my childhood friends singing spiritual songs to a group of retirement center residents.
This friend is a busy human being: husband, father, caregiver, business owner. Yet, here he was in a role I knew nothing about. Of course my knowing it isn’t what matters. His gift is what I got to see.
I sat in an area outside of his view and listened as he used his time, talent, and treasure in a beautiful way. It made me so proud in my heart to think I know this guy. This is David. My friend.
David started posting weekly spiritual reflections on Facebook a year or so ago. Many of us look forward to those as they are encouraging and uplifting. He rarely posts anything other than that, and I’m sure he decided to use social media in a way that is positive for him and others.
To witness him tonight in a different aspect of his life really made me stop and think. How often do we see friends and relatives without really seeing their gifts? We know we love them or like them or tolerate them, but how often do we see them as members of a kingdom in action?
I feel like I received a great insight tonight: a reminder to look at all the people around me and how they enhance the world. We each are born with a gift. It is up to us to use it. The “right” people will see us using our time, talents, and treasures and it may cause them to try to do the same.
Tonight, I thank God for people like David. Who do you see everyday who is building the kingdom?
I opened my eyes to a dark morning today. Winds were blowing, the air had that feel it gets when you know you can count on a rain settling in.
And it did rain some, but by noon the skies were bright again. Things change quickly.
A classmate just found out she’s going to battle cancer again…I think of my list of friends and realize quite a few are facing hard seasons.
I think back to moments in my life when I was in a bad season. I think of people who helped carry me along. One thing was consistent among them: they did not ask questions. They just did something. Sometimes it was a text. A call. A note. An effort made without asking.
Look through your friends list today. See if someone could benefit from a kind word. Make that effort. It really does help.
And as I browsed an arts market, this little guy came up to me two different times. Hugged me around the waist. Said something I could not quite understand. But whatever it was, it was good.
I have no idea what led us to meet today. Or maybe I do. Call it what you will. Dismiss it as random if you must. I know it as the gift it was.
To see through the eyes of a child. Let’s try to do that for a few minutes when we can.
A blog reaching out to victims of abuse and others in need, providing insight about abuse, hope for the future, and guidance to see THE LIGHT that lead Secret Angel out of the darkness of her own abusive situation and helped her to not only survive but to overcome.
agnestirrito 