Note: this post is a little different from the usual Listening Project posts because it’s from my perspective. But I think God directed these words and maybe they will give you hope in your grief.
For Christians, today is often overlooked–the day after Jesus’ crucifixion and the day before Easter. The in-between day.
But then I thought of the grief that the friends and followers of Jesus felt as he lay in the tomb.
I understand the numbness, the finality, the cold, hard grief that descended on them like an unexpected hailstorm, devastating their hearts and faith.
It’s easy to forget that those people faced searing agony. That in-between day had to be one of crushing loss of a beloved friend and the apparent shattering of the dreams they had about Jesus as the Messiah.
They had been slammed against a jagged wall of loss, and I understand their deep pain.
Their grief directly correlates to our grief.
But here’s the crucial part: their grief ended with the unbelievable joy of resurrection.
Our pain of losing loved ones is not the final word, but only a temporary state. We live in that in-between time now.
It is crushing at times. Searing and empty. Like for those friends of Jesus.
But resurrection is coming for us as well.
As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body. Luke 23:55-56
The storm has passed, although its lashing winds and roaring thunder buffeted you more than you thought you could bear.
But now…
Yellow flashing light shreds the clouds, and golden lines spread across the sky. An explosion of light.
I am like that light, breaking through barriers and filling the dark places with my glory.
Grip my words and push dark thoughts of sorrow and heaviness into a locked trunk.
We’ve wept together for your losses in the storm, but we now walk together in victory.
Remember my words and my promises. Life pulsates in my kingdom. This world’s storms are not the end of the story.
I am the light that shatters the darkness. I am the glow of joy and life and freedom.
Take control of your thoughts that could lead you astray, and choose to follow my lead. Trust me on this day.
I am with you in the storm. And after.
Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness… Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
My morning’s confidence should’ve been a giveaway. But, no. I confidently assured my fellow travelers, who had to go through airline security with a baby, that I’d wait on the other side of security for them.
After all, I have TSA PreCheck. I didn’t have to shed my shoes or jacket. The TSA people in my line always brought me chocolate mints and an arm flourish as I walked through. (OK, I might have exaggerated that part.)
But that morning, I cleared the metal detector with no problem, only to watch my carry-on bags slide to the other side of a glass wall.
How was I supposed to get them over there?
Some Good Sense…
I did have the good sense not to reach over the barrier or I might be writing this from a cell.
Before long, I realized that the other side of the glass wall was reserved for suspect bags.
Like mine?
They were flagging quite a few, so I stood by patiently–which of course I always do (stand patiently, I mean)–until they got to my bag.
The attendant peeled back the zippered cover and went digging. She snagged my shaker bottle with the plastic bag of powder stuffed inside.
“That’s just protein powder,” I said. She didn’t even look at me. Instead, she scurried to another counter, dipped a small sample out of the bag, and dripped something onto the powder from a bottle that looked like it held eye drops.
“It’s protein powder,” I said. In case they were confused.
Nope. Not confused. My powder tested positive for something–they didn’t know what when I asked–and so my suitcase innards, my electronics, and I all got a pat-down.
Then they re-packed my suitcase, including the protein powder, and sent me on my way.
Repacking It All
I texted my hosts for the week: You may be housing a terrorist.
She texted back: Is it too late to run a background check?
Haha.
My morning’s confidence had melted away in the pat-down, but then I thought about my fellow travelers. Have they made it through security yet?
Right then, their text message arrived. Oh, good. I could still help. Maybe carry the baby. Or a bag.
Then I read the text: We’re at the gate.
I Learned
I once held the belief that airport security lines took forever. Long snake lines measured in eons.
But I’ve learned. Nothing takes as long as being threatened with protein powder prison.
The eagle gathers herself for only a moment. Then she spreads her wings. Can you hear the powerful whoosh, the strength of those wings as she launches herself into the wide-open atmosphere?
The hardest part is the liftoff, when she needs strong muscles to leave the ground. Then she can seek out the sky’s currents.
Everything appears different from this new perspective. To stay on the ground limits vision. So much can be seen once the eagle lifts off.
Don’t stay on the ground, my love. That choice feels safe in your grief but it obscures your view.
Please: no more hiding in the bushes. Find the courage to talk to others, to participate, to join where once you would have laid low.
You will be exposed, but you have strength like an eagle when you trust in me.
Don’t fear the open skies. Take flight in the strength I give you.
Soar.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
See how the incense arises like liquid smoke, curling in waves of sweet aroma?
My Israelite children understood how incense symbolized their prayers. So, also, your prayers flow as perfume to me.
Now breathe in the sweet and cleansing scents of my presence.
Inhale my presence. Do you feel me calm your heart? I will stroke your head and give you fresh wisdom. New life.
Don’t let today’s responsibilities steal away what I offer you: my care and my breath.
Allow me to permeate your day as the fragrance of my love and life reaches deep within you.
Rest in me, dear one.
Let me strengthen you always.
When the days thicken with loss and dread, breathe in my fragrant love.
I am here.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again. I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
