Monday Morning Offering - 141

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

It's Easter Monday, Lord,

and time to look back a bit...

I'm thinking of the women who came to the tomb

expecting to find you dead

but finding that you had already risen

from the dead...

I'm thinking of the apostles

hiding in fear behind locked doors...

I'm thinking of Peter,

finally making his way to the tomb

and walking away in amazement...

I'm thinking of the two disciples

walking with you on the road to Emmaus

and not recognizing you until...

Seems like your closest friends

didn't get it right away, Lord:

even when you were right in their faces

they didn't understand what had happened...

It took time for it all to sink in...

It took time for them to understand,

to believe, to act on what they believed...

It takes me time, too, Lord...

All these years,

and the message of Easter

is still sinking in, making itself known,

making itself real in my life...

I still don't understand everything about Easter:

Sometimes I understand the dying part

better than I understand the rising part...

I want you in my life

but sometimes I hide from you

because I'm not sure what having you in my life

will cost me...

I believe you're somehow always with me, Lord,

but I'm sure I miss you lots of times

even when you're right in my face...

So this Easter Monday morning, Lord,

I offer you the ways I hope I will begin to live Easter

more this year than ever before...

I want to learn to wrap a towel around my heart

as you wrapped a towel around your waist:

I want to have a heart wrapped in your love

and ready to serve others' needs before my own...

Help me to see how my sins added

to the burden on your shoulders

on the cross:

my sins made your load heavier...

And help me learn, Lord,

that you are always just ahead of me,

drawing me out of myself,

out of my darkness into your light,

calling me to be closer to you,

beckoning me to follow where you lead

and to find you,

even though I know you

are always right by my side...

Help me to understand

when I don't understand, Lord;

to "get it" when I'm confused;

to take the time to let the Easter story sink in

to the depths of my mind, my heart, my life...

And because I so often miss you

when you walk with me, Lord,

open my eyes and ears and heart

to those in need around me

and help me to find you in them,

to serve you in them...

It's Easter Monday, Lord,

and I'm looking back:

draw me out of the darkness into your light,

always closer to your risen face shining upon my own...

Amen.

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