It’s Monday…Where are You Looking?
I’ve enjoyed scrolling through Facebook posts of friends’ Easter photos. We took family pictures, too, and adults stood with several camera phones, trying to capture smiles. In some attempts, one or more in our group had eyes closed, or looked away from center. It was a challenge to have five or six focused in the same direction at the same time, especially when children were part of the group.
Looking in the wrong place often happens. In Luke 24: 8, we read words, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”. Yes, people sought Jesus, but in the wrong place. He wasn’t dead in a tomb, but alive. The tomb was empty.
Friday’s torture, became Saturday’s silence, and then Sunday’s surprise. In a path of contrasts, the ultimate showed up: death to life.
Empty … to full, just as He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10: 10).
So, where are you on the Monday after Easter? Do you still have pieces of a chocolate bunny, or a basket of plastic eggs holding treats from an egg hunt? Ready to eat that last slice of dessert? Maybe you are laundering the tablecloth and putting china away used at your Easter dinner.
Have you thought about the living among the dead? Have you thought about personal emptiness to fullness?
In the forty days leading up to Easter, I focused on a particular life-giving thought each day in my devotional reading. I reviewed a few this morning: mercy, trust, courage, grace, follow, strength, surrender, love…The list of forty is made possible only through the power of the living Savior. The exchange of my emptiness for His fullness.
We learned if we want photos worthy of a frame or posting for others to see, we need to keep our eyes open and focus in the right direction at the right time.
Looking for fullness of life uses the same principle…
eyes open, focus in the right place…on the only One who knows we are empty, but wants to fill us with His power to fully live.
eyes open, focus in the right place…on the only One who knows we are empty, but wants to fill us with His power to fully live.
The Conversation
What a wonderful reminder! Keep our eyes on Jesus. I've learned over the years, if I want to see the good in people, the beauty of life, the awesome splendor of God's Creation and the gift of love–I must look for it. If we look for the negative we will find it, but if we look for God's goodness, we will see, feel, and be richly blessed.
Thanks Katherine for taking the time to comment. I agree- we need to take the time to look and appreciate. There are so many gifts around us – like the crepe myrtles in my backyard! I enjoy seeing them from my window each day.
What a powerful line: "Friday’s torture, became Saturday’s silence, and then Sunday’s surprise." I want to look for what Jesus is doing in everyday life and trust Him to be that fullness for me. He makes life worth living, and when we pursue Him above all else, we find the satisfaction Psalm 107:9 talks about. Thanks for this post, Marilyn!
Thank you Katy for your comments. Yes- pursuing Him is the way to live. I am focusing on Psalm107 in the next few weeks. It is rich!