| |
| |
|
Inspirational Information |
|
|
|
The Women At The Cross (Reflections On The Death And Resurrection Of Jesus)
The women at the cross. Have you ever thought about them? Why not drift into a comfortable - and meditative - position on a coach or in a chair and read verses 40 and 41 in Mark, chapter 15? When I read those words, one of my first thoughts was "Gutsy!" I would not have wanted to watch. Some folks that day watched because they were cruel and insensitive people. Not these women. They were there because they cared. They did not know the answer to his cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" * They were "just there." There... Watching. Caring. Grieving. And probably wondering "Why?" along with Jesus. Another thought I had as I reflected on this passage was this: it is good to spend time "being there" with these women. It is an ugly scene. Brutality. Hatred. Sounds of suffering. Death. Yet, in the midst of the horror, hatred and cruelty there is a great deal of beauty. It is the beauty of God's love. God's love for me. And the love of these women for Jesus. Yes, it is hard - but good - to spend time there and "watch" with this caring group of women. It is good to stop and reflect. I WONDER WHAT THEY WOULD SAY TO ME? While meditating on the entire scene, I wrote down the following question: "I wonder what they would say to me now as I sit in my office and reflect on this? What would Mary Magdalene say? And Mary, the mother of Jesus - what would she tell me?" The following is what I wrote down in answer to the question I posed. I imagined that these women - the women at the scene of the cross - would say something like this to me: "Lee... You can't imagine the agony. You just can't imagine. We could hardly look. Unbelievable. It was too awful for words. We felt so helpless and hopeless. But, we are on 'this side' of the cross now. Like you. And we say to you: 'Spend some time here, Lee.' Don't breeze past these few short lines in your Bible. He suffered for a purpose. Never let your heart stray too far from that one great truth. You see, we heard him. We heard him cry "Why?" We also heard him ask the Father to forgive those in front of him. Take strength in his love. To be sure, you should allow the pain of those moments to bring pain to your heart. But be quick to pray to him and ask him to guide you through the process of seeing him there. Then, ask him to give you a deep, abiding sense of his being with you here... In your world. In your heart. On this side of the cross. And pray for your world, Lee. Don't forget that. Let our Savior's agony be your motivation to pray for people. People like us. We needed him - more than we realized at the moment. More than a person we loved. More than the one we called "the Messiah." We needed him as our Savior. The people of the world need him, Lee. Where you were raised. The city where you received your education. Where you were in Viet Nam. They *all* need him. Think about that - and embrace him. Embrace him with all your heart. Believe us. You will never regret that. You see, Lee, we're with him now. We see him in a much different light. We cannot even begin to describe him to you as we see him now. But you will know - someday. So hold on. Come here often to take a look. But also look beyond the agony of the cross, his death, and his burial. Be sure you see something else we saw: the empty tomb. We'll look forward to 'seeing' you there with us. Standing in awe. Worshipping. And growing to love him more there before the empty grave. May our wonderful, living Savior bless your day, brother. Saved by his love, The women at the cross." YOUR TURN... May I encourage you to read Mark 15 and 16 -- stopping long enough at the cross to think about what happened on that sad day? But, please don't stay there. Move on from the cross to the resurrection. And your reflections are...? Maybe a few key words? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Yours for a day filled with hope in Jesus, Lee ____________________________________ Avoid pain/create pleasure. For A Beautiful Moment In Time
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Make Mistakes! Its Okay - Really! When you fall, do you get right back up? Do you learn from your mistake and move on? Or do you kick yourself so hard in the butt that you just mope around for days in your PJs and wonder why you're so miserable? Come on! Get a grip!Okay, okay, that was uncalled for, but seriously, the more mistakes you make, the more you learn. The more you learn the more you grow and the more likely you'll be a future bright star in the sky. Israel Is My Son "And thou shalt say unto Pharoah, Thus saith the Lord, "Israel is my son, even my first-born. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me;and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy first born(Exodus 4. Life Is Worthwhile If You (Excerpted from the Jim Rohn Two Day Weekend event - June 22 and 23, 2001)1) First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN.What you don't know WILL hurt you. Just Think of Kyle! This morning at 5:22am to 6am, I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is an understatement considering I am still crying and it's like 7:15am. What Legacy Are We Leaving Our Children? Children can seem exhausting, annoying, wonderful, loud and funny all at the same time. They are a lot of work especially in the beginning years but what we need to realize is that they are our future so what we do with them in the early to teen years is important because they will become the leaders while we behold the golden years. Being Fruitful Over the years I've learned to challenge my audiences to turn their response to the ideas and information they receive into results. According to the Christian story, the first couple, Adam and Eve, was instructed to be fruitful - produce some results. Everyday is a Gift, Open and Enjoy It There is a bottle of perfume sitting on my dresser that I was given when I was ten years old! As you can tell I have pack rat tendencies! For me that pattern started as a young child. I could never bear to throw things away. The HUGE Deposit of Diamond in You Something happened to me some years back that is worthy is sharing with everybody all over the world. When I started running my business, things were very tough for me to the point that I could hardly afford to have a dime on me. Order and Law When disorder comes into our lives, we obviously aren't paying any attention to God's laws for us. You may think the 10 Commandments are not for today, but think again. Lesson Learned Direct Answers - Column for the week of December 9, 2002I was involved with a man separated from his wife. We connected on an extremely emotional level and were in the process of building a future. Keep On Believing It has been said that a man is what he eats. Someone else said that a man is what he reads. You Dont Find All Drunks in the Gutter: The Story of a Functional Alcoholic! Today, August 22, 2005, I am clean and sober for eight years which simply means today I am still an alcoholic and on this day I will choose not to pick up a drink. If you look at me today and compared my appearance to eight years ago you probably would not notice much difference (with the exception of a few more wrinkles). Reclaiming Our Resilient Spirit Our spirits are taking a beating. The daily barrage of bad news, violence, shrinking resources, global warming, and economic slowdown can put us in a state of frustration and paralysis. How to Put the Sizzle Back in Your Relationship with These Seven Goal Setting Tools Goal Setting and Relationships?That is not as weird as it may sound. Consider the following definition of a goal: "A goal is a future incidence or event that is consciously worked towards. How to Scare Fear Out of Your Life A reader asks: "Many times in my life I have let fear rule me and stop me from doing something I wanted to do. Do you have any suggestions for how to handle fear?"There are many successful strategies for dealing with fear in your life. The Importance of Friendship My students and clients have constantly heard me stress that our Martial Art is more than just a physical discipline; that it is a discipline that develops both the mind and body. This is so important that Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, the grand master of our lineages, has made it the primary thrust of just about every one of his books about Ninpo and Martial Arts in general. Energy Work Basics Part 3: The Power of High Intention At SPIRIT Connections, we believe that the most powerful tool we have when working with energy is our ability to set a high intention. We add the word "high" to intention since we are interested in intentions with a high vibration. My Mothers Garden I love to talk about Purposeful Living with others and share how it's affected my life. But sometimes when I get to the part about doing what you need to do my listeners eyes glaze over and I know I've lost them. Lock In Your Legacy You, my friend, are going to die.What? What kind of motivational tool is that? Real inspiring!In fact, it is. A Childs Plight In the streets of Bogotá, a child - named Simon* - wanders amidst the crowd. He is a lonely soul, lost in the multitude, forgotten by humanity, rejected by his society.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
