Spring this year of 2025 has been late and very slow in coming. Perhaps that’s why the process has felt so long and arduous. Perhaps that’s also why the present breaking forth of glorious color and fragrance feels so profound.
Almost
overnight my city has witnessed tall woodland trees sprouting tiny green leaves;
smaller decorative fruit trees lining property and streets, breaking forth with
gorgeous blossoms; and carpets of bright yellow crocuses and daffs popping up
everywhere. This past weekend while
driving, I actually reacted with audible gasps a couple times as I rounded a
bend and beheld vistas of God’s creation beauty.
In a small
way this sudden appearing of indescribable beauty has personified Resurrection Day
for me, and what it must have been like for Jesus’ disciples. After experiencing the horrors of His
suffering and death followed by what might have felt like the longest of all
sabbaths, I find myself wondering how the spiritual landscape changed for each
one of those individuals? What impact
did remembering His words have as they tried to connect the dots with this new
reality. He was risen!!!! He was alive!!!!!! HE.IS.ALIVE!!!
I’ve begun
sitting in my morning devotions with each of the glorious “appearings” we’ve
been given in Scripture. I’m sitting with the women startled by the
angelic presence in the tomb and then running to tell the disciples; with Mary
Magdalene grieving in the garden and then approaching the Gardener; the
couple on the road to Emmaus as they walked and talked with the Stranger
and then sat down to eat with Jesus Himself.
Speaking of eating, we know Jesus suddenly appeared to the ten on that
first day, and then to the eleven and others with them a week later. Oh and yes, we know He went before them to
Galilee, cooking fish for them on the beach and then commissioning Peter for
the work ahead.
He was with
them for forty days interacting; breaking bread; allowing…yes, even encouraging
them to touch Him; and at one point, He even breathed on them. It appears He
came and went suddenly. Were the
disciples hoping “things” would go back to the way they had been during those
three years they walked together? Or…perhaps
had they begun anticipating that this would be a new normal?
What are you
experiencing now with this type of prayer?
What questions are in your heart?
Perhaps you could take some time with the Holy Spirit this Easter season to ponder these thoughts. Just as on the Emmaus road, may He:
- Open the Scriptures to you concerning Jesus in a new way (Luke 24:27)
- Open your eyes daily to be more aware of His near Presence (Luke 24:31)
- Open your mind to appreciate and experience the Scriptures in a deeper way (Luke 24:45)
Jesus is
risen! He is alive! The vista is beautiful.