All In A Days Grace

  I’m not always sure we realize this as Christians, but Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Christian calendar. In addition to that, the week leading up to Easter holds high importance as well. We call it Holy Week for a reason. The formal observance of Holy week didn’t officially begin until after the 4 th century. This was when the Nicene Creed was developed. The Nicene Creed We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation      he came down from heaven,      was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary      and became truly human.      For our sake he was cruci...

  More and more all I see this time of year is rabbits and eggs in all the stores. I dug one year through a pile of baskets and eggs in a store to find a cross decoration that was ultimately cracked from the way it had fallen to the bottom of the decoration pile.   My heart sank as I pulled out the broken cross and thought…….this is more than figurative. Did you ever stop to think how the "secular" customs surrounding Easter are truly bizarre? First, there is the Easter Bunny himself; a big rabbit that carries nests of eggs. Rabbits are extremely good at carrying out "be fruitful and multiply" , and yes, eggs are perfect, encapsulated symbols of new life to come….. But rabbits don't lay eggs or make nests. Adults dismiss the Easter Bunny as a leftover legacy from earlier nature-based celebrations of spring's arrival and as an innocuous symbol of the new life that is abundant in springtime. What does Easter mean to you? besides fluffy bunnies, brigh...

  "As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.   “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.   We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.   But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.   He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!   This man had never met Jesus. Out of the blue, without even asking for permission, Jesus makes a mud pie with His own spit, puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash in a swimming pool. Here’s the part we can’t miss,...

  “It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest.”-Psalm 127:2 It’s an interesting fact that sheep don’t like to lie down. It is rare that you see a sheep in a state of rest. It’s also interesting that in scripture we’re often referred to as sheep. We as people can find it hard to be in a state of rest. If we’re not rushing, we’re wandering from one thing to the next. One way or another we often learn that if we don’t voluntarily slow down, God many times, will give us reason to. He’s very creative in the ways in which he captures our attention. When we’re aligned with God we quickly learn that part of that experience is taking time to rest.   Not only does a time of rest do our bodies good, but our spirits as well. Here lies the question “Is it well with your soul?” Is your spirit restless? Are you running ahead forgetting that God goes before y...

Looking inward helps us to repent of the things we’ve done or left undone. It also helps us to have new strength in taking on the challenges to come. In Matthew 4, we see how Jesus, himself, prepared for difficult times ahead. The Spirit led Jesus into the Judean desert, into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days. Although he had recently been baptized by John the Baptist and the Spirit of God had descended on him like a dove, filling him, this time in the wilderness would prove to be a time of testing. Jesus was tired, alone, hungry, and weak after forty days without food. And that’s when the enemy showed up. That’s how he often times shows up in our lives; when we are weak. He starts with the simplest of temptations—Jesus’s physical hunger and weakness. Often times he starts with our simplest temptation. Maybe we’re feeling defeated, cynical or frustrated. This is the enemy’s place of entry into our lives. In Matthew he says to Jesus “If you are the Son of Go...