Holy Week Part III: The Second Day

The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter is a day of reflection. Today, we ponder the endless silence found in the grave.

I think about Jesus' family and friends, of the bewilderment they must have felt that day. I have been in that place - the place where so many things I was sure of sat in ruins. Which way to turn next?

Before the third day, there is the hopelessness of the second day. The day when all seems lost and God is silent. Today, we consider that but for the hand of God, we would live in the second day forevermore.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word:
O my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer.
Psalm 22:2, NIV.

Holy Week Part II: In the Meantime

On Sunday, He rode into Jerusalem amid a cheering crowd. On Thursday, He instituted the Lord's supper. But what about Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? What was Jesus doing, what was He thinking those last days? He knew what was coming. So how did He fill those days?

We know He dined at Simon the Leper's where "a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head" (Mark 14:3, NIV). He knew what was coming. What do you talk about at dinner when you know you will soon be executed?

A single verse in Luke tells us how Christ spent His last days before the ordeal of the cross. "Every day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives" (Luke 21:37, NIV). He knew what was coming. By day, He was about His Father's business. By night, He withdrew to be strengthened for the days ahead. Tonight, I pray for grace to follow His perfect example.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.
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The last Word:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2, NIV.

Holy Week Part I: Applause

Note: Of all holy days/holidays, Easter moves my heart more than any other. At Easter, we mark the most selfless act of Love in the history of mankind. Join me this week as we mark these days of unfathomable truth and mercy.

Palm Sunday. Something big was happening among the Jews. Rhetoric surrounding the carpenter-come-rabbi was escalating. The signs and wonders had become bolder, even to the point, some said, of power over the grave. This had to be it. The long-awaited Messiah, the King of the Jews. The time was ripe. He was going to set His people free once again, just like in the days of Moses.

They filled the streets to celebrate their imminent liberation. How they must have scrambled and clamored to see Him! Here was the one who would soon set them free. The crowd was on its feet. Excitement was at a fever-pitch. This was it!

How sad Jesus must have felt to know this very crowd would soon be demanding his execution. Fame is fleeting. The applause of men comes and goes on the slightest gust of wind. How did Jesus ride through this adoring procession knowing what lay just a few days ahead? Simple - His power and peace did not come from the admiration of men. They came from the certain knowledge He was fulfilling God's will for His life.

I am reminded to take the applause of men lightly, to consider man's natural duplicity of heart. To focus on the only One who can give me lasting worth and purpose. To set my face like flint toward the destiny God has crafted for me. Applause is nice, but it cannot rule our steps. Jesus' experience with the crowd's adoration can teach us much for life today.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.
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The last Word:
Do not store up for yourselves treasure [acclaim] on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure [acclaim] in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6: 19, 20, NIV.

Coming Up for Air

Friends, I have been in acute Blogland withdrawal for the past few weeks. Life has taken an unexpected turn that I know is no surprise to God. I am well; my family is well. My professional life has been the culprit. In this age of massive unemployment, I am officially NOT complaining!

This interlude has highlighted how much I love the friends I have made here in the blogosphere. There is a list of questions that go through my head quite often. I wonder how T's son is doing, whether D is feeling better, if S got home safely from her missions trip, what E is waiting on before she pens her book. While my presence has been shadowy these weeks, my heart for the women who have befriended me here grows fonder.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.
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The last Word:
To my dear friend, whom I love in the truth. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
3 John 1:1, 2, NIV.

Digging Deeper, Lifting Higher

In this last chapter of Jennifer Rothschild's Self Talk, Soul Talk, she exhorts us to "Lift Up: Praise the Lord , O My Soul." We are invited to examine what we are lifting up in our thought lives. It reminds me of the saying, "I'm not much, but I'm all I ever think about"

This is our sinful nature, our default position ever since Eve wondered how the forbidden fruit could work to her benefit. Eve was focused on her own agenda that day. Her wants and her needs. What she could gain from taking the risk. Does this sound familiar to anyone besides me?

Jennifer offers the antidote to such thinking in today's reading. Relief comes when we lift up thoughts of others and, most especially, of our God. Our minds cannot focus on two thoughts at one time. When the misery of self-seeking overwhelms me, I can turn to the needs of others. I can turn to praising the God I know and adore. Soon, self has taken a back seat in my thoughts, and life doesn't look so hard after all.

I consider my life as the space under a canopy. Sometimes, I expand my space by digging deeper into my soul. At other times, I expand my space simply by lifting the canopy higher. To do this, I focus on the greatness of God, on His deeds, His love and His faithfulness. When I am praising God, He is invited beneath my canopy. As a result of His company, the canopy lifts higher to hold Him, and the expanse of my life unfolds to greater and greater heights.

Today, I invite you to look up, to focus on God, to invite Him to sit beneath the canopy that is your life, to enjoy the wonders of His ever-expanding view.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?
Psalm 8: 3, 4, NKJV.

Being Still: Yes to God Tuesdays, Chapter 9

Oh, to rest in God like a child rests on a beloved adult! To abandon all cares, to submit to the rise and fall of the grownup's chest, to snuggle into the warmth of another. Unhindered sleep follows. Peace only comes when all efforts cease.

This week's chapter of Jennifer Rothschild's Self Talk, Soul Talk bids us to "Chill Out: Be at Rest, O My Soul". There were several lines in this chapter that popped me right between the eyes. "My fatigue became more powerful than my fortitude" (p. 135) summarizes my on-going dilemma.

When I am moving like a locomotive, it is often in doing good things. What a battle to accept that this is no excuse for not taking care of myself! I love the quote Jennifer attributes to Chuck Swindoll. Responding to the motto, "I'd rather burn out than rust out", Chuck asked, "What's the difference? Either way, you're out" (p.136).

There is a line I can easily cross in my full-steam-ahead mentality. At some point, I cease doing God's will and give in to the temptation of Gail's will. My will often includes making life go a certain way and having others see me in a certain light. Whenever I hit the burnout skids, I can retrace my steps and find the point where I diverged from God's plan and struck out on my own.

Thankfully, God has let me go down that path and suffer the consequences so many times, I am now loathe to do it. This takes intentional effort on my part. As Paul says in Hebrews, "Let us make every effort to enter God's rest so that no one will fall" (4:11, NIV). To hear more on the subject of God's rest, be sure to visit the "Yes to God Tuesdays" series, hosted by Lelia.

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

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The last Word:

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

Isaiah 30:15, NIV.

Yes to God Tuesdays, Chapter 8

I'm a few days late, but I didn't want to miss another week of Lelia's ongoing study of Jennifer Rothschild's Self Talk, Soul Talk: What to Say When You Talk to Yourself. Chapter eight advises us, "Look Back: Forget Not His Benefits, O My Soul."

Looking back has always been an integral practice in my thought life. Sadly, for many years, the sole purpose of looking back was to dwell on my mistakes and on the hurts I experienced at the hands of others. I could look back, alright - I'd look back and find an excuse for behaving badly today. Somehow, I don't think justifying ourselves is the kind of looking back that Jennifer and the psalmists are calling us to do.

Studying God's Word is the kind of looking back that brings joy and comfort. The entire Bible reviews the story of God's love and His unfailing provision for us. God repeatedly reminded the nation of Israel to remember His great deeds on their behalf, to teach the history of His faithfulness to their children and their children's children. How often in the lives of the early fathers do we see stone monuments erected to mark the places where great signs and wonders have occurred? These were cues for the people to look back and remember all that God had done for them.

Through the grace of God and a lot of hard work on both our parts, looking back today is a source of wonder and promise for me. A few Christmases ago, my daughters constructed a "This Is Your Life" scrapbook for me. It traced my journey from childhood through adulthood, into marriage and family, professional milestones and our reconstruction after Mr W's death. It reminds me of the Old Testament stories of how God worked in His people's lives. There is sorrow, there is joy, there is stiff-necked disobedience and there is redemption.

But underneath it all is the grandest, most glorious love story of all - of my being pursued with passion and of my finally having the grace to stop running. Today, I invite you to look back on your story to see God's thumbprint, to rejoice that through good and bad, bitter and sweet, He always has been and always will be there.

May you feel His grace today,

Gail W.

The last Word:

Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign Lord, You have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. For the sake of Your Word and according to Your will, you have done these great things and made them known to your servant. How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like You, and there is no God but You.

2 Samuel 7: 18-22, NIV.