The Big Surprise

Still talking like gravel sounds an hour before Good Friday service found my faith firm. When it came time I spoke clearly and audibly into the microphone. Sitting in the dark behind a black curtain I marveled that it was my dry rasping voice filling the candlelit room. And that it didn't sound dry and rasping but full of Christ life. I have no pretensions to my voice, it's not professional, it's not beautiful, but it's His.

Living lent with my family these past weeks gave me many good points of contact with them. One of my favorites was with Rowan. We were talking about how Jesus died for us and what that meant. Just us two alone in the kitchen. I said, "And that is how He died. But you know that's not all that happened, right?" Rowan's eyes twinkled and expanded and he answered, "No! He came back to life! AND THAT IS THE BIG SURPRISE!"

He ran off and I sat there stunned. The big surprise? When was the last time I looked at it as that? I've known the end of that story as long as I can remember. But do I? Really does Jesus ever stop surprising us? I think of this week and my struggles, of the mercy I never expect but always find, of the grace that brings joy even out of death, of the myriads of times Jesus has caught me off guard with His love, His forgiveness, His laughter. Yes, Jesus is the big surprise. May I never forget it.

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:15

Living Lent

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts, and minds....teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deut. 11: 18-19)
I awoke yesterday with this verse in my head at 6AM. Two minutes later there was a voice by my bedside, "Do you think the ark went to Heaven with Noah?" Hmmmm could I in good conscience pretend slumber? No. So Rowan got into bed with me and we thrashed out the details of Heaven, Noah, arks, animals, and God (Who does indeed have a sense of humor).
My first exposure to lent as a child was through a Catholic friend ("The main difference between you and me is that I get to drink wine at communion and you don't"). She said you had to give something up for forty days and her mommy gave up sugar and was grumpy and her dad gave up creamer and was even more grumpy and she couldn't have any gum for another two weeks! Oh...I see...kinda?
Now, I understand that lent goes deeper than creamer and grumpiness, deeper even than giving something up. But the misconception persists so I swung the other way and added something.
I decided to try and live Deut. 11:18-19. This should be a given, but unfortunately, it often gets swept under the rug of busyness. So I've made a concentrated effort this lent to talk Jesus. Here are some of the issues that have been revealed: One of my children thought that Jesus didn't really die but only pretended. One of my children asserted that he could jump the chasm of sin and get to Heaven on his own. And one of the parents (me) were deeply convicted about how often she glibly dishes out the Bible at meals and then does just what she feels like in between.

Jesus is on the tongue and in the heart and the metamorphis is somehow more visual when it's the fore-front of our days. True, we may only be changing from a grub to a bigger grub (no butterflies in sight yet) but we are stretching and talking and learning from each other. ("If God didn't die, how did He get to Heaven?")

So lent is teaching me to know and love Jesus more and to share that as a family and I don't even have to give up tea! (See me shudder!)