I don’t know what to do today. I mean, it feels like any other day. The sun is shining, facebook is alive with noise and TGIF’s and You Will Not Believe What This Kitten Did Next. It’s like every other Friday.
Except it’s not.
It’s Good Friday and it seems like that should require something of me. The holy events of this beautiful, terrible day should somehow move out of the square on the calendar and into the tender places in my heart; places that were once dead and are now alive. I know we should live in gratitude for the work of the cross every day, but Good Friday isn’t every day. This is the day; the day it happened. The day flesh-torn-from-bone filled the aching void in me. The day the blood of Jesus watered seeds of hope, buried in the dry wasteland of an endless eternity. The day my spiritual diagnosis moved from terminal to triumphant, from hospice to healed. This is big. So I’m torn between sinking into the depths of quiet contemplation or shouting from the rooftops of social media.
I really don’t know what to do. But I do know this: I’m not going to let it pass without stopping to look, really look, at a sacrifice so sacred and scandalous it can only be called Grace. I want to let His words and wounds be my singular sound byte, drowning out the clamoring chatter and endless debates over louder, less-worthy issues in the Church. The fights and fringes that seem so important on any other Friday, must reverently and fearfully step into the shadows to let this Friday – and all that was accomplished – occupy every inch of the stage. Perhaps our silent attention and unyielding affection for the work of the cross will cause a change so great that we’ll never want to move back to the insignificant edges. Perhaps as we stand and stare at Love Poured Out, we’ll be willing to do the same with our words and opinions and work and dreams. As we realize, fresh and deep, that we were the joy set before Him, maybe we’ll see one another in the very same way.
Wouldn’t that just be a resurrection miracle?
Thank God it’s Friday,
Bo
Bo,
I wanted to thank you for your blog and your books. For the last 2 1/2 years I have gone through the toughest battle in my life. My husband was diagnosed with melanoma and 6 months ago, he won that battle and is now at home with Jesus. Your book, Beautiful Battlefields was a tremendous encouragement to me as I journeyed through this time in my life. I have given that book to several other people that are going through their own battles.
I have also shared some of your blog posts with my fb friends or on my blog. I loved your post today and found that we both blogged with some of the same thoughts in mind. I have always though of us as “kindred spirits”, and today just made me think that even more! If you are interested, my blog is http://www.trustinghisplan.wordpress.com.
Even though we’ve never met, please know that I think about and pray for your family often! Praying you all have a wonderful, joy-filled Easter weekend!
Happy Easter, Bo, to you and your family!