Take up Your Cross

Some years ago, I had the windows open when two little girls ran past my condo.

They were giggling and laughing and one loudly proclaimed, "It smells like Easter down here!"

I've shared that story before. I love that. It smells like Easter.

What does Easter smell like? I think you know. It smells like spring. It smells like new life. It smells like creation.

It's a beautiful thing.

But before we reach Easter, we must contend with Good Friday.

And this year, Good Friday comes when we, as a world, are experiencing our own personal Good Fridays, being asked not just to sacrifice, but to, as Anne Lamott writes, seemingly "survive the unsurvivable."

But a reminder to us all today that though times are very dark right now, we are not alone.

You are never alone. God is with us. He has not forsaken us. Take comfort in Him.

After all, it smells like Easter out there, doesn't it?

Today's prayer: 

Lord, You have not

forsaken us.

You have not cast

us aside.

You have not swept us

under some sort of cosmic rug

and left us to be forgotten.

Despite our suffering,

despite that soul-wrenching pain

that twists our dreams

and lays flat our hopes,

You have not left us

alone on the cross.

You have not left us

on the cross at all.

We have never been

on the cross.

There’s no room.

You are already there.

We took up our cross,

Lord, and we followed You,

but we never made it

to Golgotha.

We took up our cross,

but then You held out Your hand

and we turned our cross over to You.

You have not forsaken us.

You carry our pain with You.

You suffer our fears for us.

And because of Your sacrifice,

Your love is made known

and magnified within us.

You have not forsaken us.

You have only ever loved us.

Amen.

Psalm 22:1

Matthew 16:24