Maundy Thursday....Good Friday

Last night I attended  Maundy Thursday Service.  I don't think Service is quite the right word as it is truly more of an observance.  It is the time that no matter what your week/day/life holds, you gather your heart and focus...focus on the true meaning of Easter. 

The Easter story isn't an easy story to tell. Yes, it has a glorious ending...it even has a wonderful beginning but the dark last days before that glorious ending are hard.  They are full of pain.  I shudder to think what it had to be.  

Today is Good Friday....when I think of what happened to my Savior on this day it brings tears to my eyes, even though I know the ending.  But, He did that for me....He saw something worthy enough in me...He loved (loves) that much. I can not begin to address the thankfulness I have, that due to that one, selfless act of sacrifice, He made way for us all.  He loved (loves) you...that much. He saw your beautiful worthiness. In my human mind the whole concept can be hard to understand or make sense of...but, for me, that is where faith enters the picture.  Faith carries me through the fields of things beyond my understanding. 

Call to Hope

For His Anger lasts only a moment, but his favor last a lifetime;

weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30: 5 (NIV)

Psalm Sunday 2014

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Psalm Sunday is one of those days that I have missed the true significance of  most years, if not always.  I have lots of memories of watching my sweet children parade through our church waving construction paper psalm leaves in symbolism of the day, but I wonder...did I ever stop and think about what that day meant? Did I ever raise up to shout praises to my Savior, even in my heart?

No, I am sure I didn't.  I am sure I sat there with my beautiful family, in my comfy church, looking ahead and listening to beautiful music and a sermon. I may have even made notes in my Bible "to look back at later and meditate on" but probably  I just sat there;  maybe my mind wandered to what we were all going to wear next week on Easter Sunday or even where we were going to eat after church.   My heart didn't hurt for the trials my Savior faced after his "parade."  My heart did not hurt for those pains He faced and accepted for me.  My heart was not humbled by any of it.  I didn't compare the humble entry of Christ on a donkey to the arrival my King should have received.  I didn't humble my heart and life and welcome Him to parade into it with full regalia.  I am hoping today that I can pause, and remember, only through Him do I have eternity and those sweet children who made those construction paper psalm leaves to wave. Today I want to praise Him and shout His arrival.  Only through Him do I have salvation and so much more than I deserve.

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

~Matthew 21:9 (NIV)