Not Your Typical Church Lady

How are we all doing today? Everyone hanging in there? Week three was my dark week. Week three was when we found out there would be no Easter morning worship. Sure, there would still be a recorded service, but no gathering together at church to do it. Nope. Easter would be celebrated over the internet at home. I would rather have been punched in the face than lose our Easter gathering. That affected me more than anything else. All week long I just wanted to cry.

In fact, I did. I poured out my heart and tears to God. It was not elegant. It was a messy, snotty affair. At the end of it, I received my answer – life. There is still life out there. Every day, the sun comes up and the sun goes down. Every night there are still beautiful stars in the sky. The daffodils are decked out in their springtime finery. The tulips are popping up, the grass is green. Buds are coming out on the trees. The birds are out there singing with all the joy they can muster. Pretty soon I'll be surrounded by calves, another sign of life. All the green things are pointing toward the sun. They are all looking up, so I should look up, too.

After that, I felt much better. It made me think of seeds and the possibilities that each seed holds. Seeds don't grow unless you plant them. This is spring, and spring means new life. Easter itself is a celebration of new life. We believe that Jesus rose on the third day, alive. Hallelujah! We, ourselves are here in our homes like little germinating seeds. When we emerge, will we grow into something lovely? Will we be a new thing? Something better than what we were before? Hope springs eternal and so I like to think that we will. The lessons we learn while germinating can be bigger and more powerful than we can imagine. Has this brought us together as human beings? Have we put aside our petty differences that separated us before? Have we shed our outer shell to grow further? Can we finally be the beautiful creatures that God intended for us to be? Until a seed is planted, it is nothing but a seed. Until it goes through that uncomfortable change, it can't be what it was meant to be, which is NOT a seed, but a living thing.

"Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

For, all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever" (1 Peter 1:17-25, NIV).

If you have been born again, you are an imperishable seed through the blood of Christ, through the living and enduring word of God. If that doesn't perk up the spirits and give hope, I don't know what will. Today, turn off the news. Get off of social media. If you are able and weather permitting, go outside. Smell the smells. Feel the sun (if it's sunny.) Look up at the sky. Know that there is still life and you are still part of it. Try to find a blooming flower, even if it is a dandelion. Look how happy it is to be pointing towards the sun. Point yourself toward the Son. Celebrate the life we've been given, give thanks to God. Thank Jesus, the Lamb of God, by whose blood we are saved, and are able to grow to be more than just a seed.

"I tell you, he replied, 'if they keep quiet the stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40, NIV).

There is no life without the sun or the Son. There is less risk of melanoma if you bask in the Son, but the sun is also good for you. You need the vitamin D. While we are speaking of life, I'd like to wish my grandmother, Edy Myers at Homewood, a happy early birthday. She'll be another year young on April 22. Since there is a strict NO VISITORS policy at this time, I would like to take this opportunity to say: I love you Gram! Happy Birthday! XOXO