Do you know He's walked before you? Happy Palm Sunday!

Today, the hubby and I enjoyed a peaceful wandering in the woods. As we enjoyed the silence and cool breeze, it was hard to not see the immense beauty around us.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. We see all around us the care God has taken with His creation. He gently tucks it in through autumn's cooling temps and wakes it again to new life in spring. How can that not impress upon us the immense love he has for us?

In the midst of my marveling at creation, we jumped a small creek and I tripped on the undergrowth. Playfully, I teased my husband over his 'immense' concern for my safety... Seeing as he didn't pause to help me across the small creek or even turn around to my grunt at having almost tripped. His response though stops me. He says, "I'm walking before you."

While I was teasing him, and we both knew it, it reminded me that there was no lack of concern in his actions. Quite the opposite! He was walking ahead of me to make sure there were no unseen dangers.

As such a simple act swelled my heart with love, it also very vividly brought to life the truth we know about Christ... He walks before us. He has seen the trials we face. He has known the hardship and the heartache.

He chose to enter our lives in human form, which we recently celebrated at Christmas, and to pay the ultimate price for our sins, which we will celebrate this Friday as Good Friday.
Thankfully, the story doesn't end there! 

Next Sunday we will celebrate His resurrection, and the promise of the new life He gives us. How precious we are of all creation!

As today we celebrate Palm Sunday, his arrival in Jerusalem for a week he knew would include immense suffering, death, and a trip to hell... HAPPY PALM SUNDAY!

As we celebrate this week, let us remember the ultimate price He paid and the larger than life gift He gave.

And as we draw closer to Easter Sunday, let us rejoice in the realization that He did it all that we may find comfort in the knowledge that He has walked before us.

He paid a debt we could not pay, for a life we do not deserve, and He will not leave us to walk it's road alone.

May you find joy and comfort in this Easter season and may you see life anew in Christ!

In Christ,
A Southern Sinner

Foot bridge

reflections on a hiccup in life...

A few weeks ago, I had a post entitled 'A hiccup in life'. Yesterday, as we headed home from Husband's childhood home, we saw a fire on the side of the road. Fire is never good, but what it could have consumed, if not contained. would have been a personal loss for us. Never before have I beat a growing fire with pine limbs, but you do what you must to protect what is yours. I will not ponder long the what-ifs, because there is little point in that. Instead, I have pondered this experience in the view of 'a hiccup in life'.

Husband had intended to leave much earlier in the afternoon. One thing, and then another, took 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there... and we were later leaving than expected. How often do things happen that change our plans? We live such structured, scheduled lives, and sometimes forget that our plans are so small in comparsion to the vast comings and goings of all of creation. How in the world do we think we can plan everything out?

God knew when we would cross that spot in the road. All of our planning could not have anticipated it, or even prevented it, but God put us in a place to address it. The local fire department was VERY quick to respond, and they are to be commended. I have no doubt they would have taken care of it if we'd never passed by, but through our involvement we were reminded of our love for the land and the gratitude to God and past generations. For that, I am grateful.

Hiccups in life, I am coming to see, are God's mini blessings... interupting our so called plans and enriching our lives on ways only He can.

Getting up in the mornings, during the week…

At one point I was doing really well.  I would clean house, wash clothes, or wash dishes during my time before work. 

See, in my former employment, and husband’s current employment, we would have to leave the house at 6am.  This meant rising before 6am with enough time to shower and make lunches.  Now, a perk of my current employment is that I’m 20 minutes away and work doesn’t start until 8am.  Essentially, I can get up at 7:00-7:10am and make it to work in plenty of time, provided I have clothes laid out and lunch already made. 

This is very tempting… especially now that husband has a habit of tucking me back in before he leaves in the mornings.  It’s a nice loving thing to do.  He’s very glad I no longer have to get up so early, or work in the same environment he does.  All the loving aside, it makes it much harder for me to get up and be productive because I often don’t realize it has happened until my phone alarm goes off at 7am. (That’s the ‘You MUST get up NOW’ alarm.)

While the sleep does me good, since we’ve been getting in better later and later the past few weeks, it’s not a good habit for me.  Husband’s intentions are good, so I don’t want to belittle them, but it has to stop.   Once I get home in the afternoons I want to do nothing, so it’s best if I do it in the morning… I feel more productive, and I’ve found that if I do something productive before work I’m more likely to do something productive when I get home.  Funny huh?

I could just get up before him, but that’s 5:15-5:20,am… ugh.  Maybe next week…