a book for the next season

                                                    A Season of Beholding available on Amazon

contemplation and ecstasy

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.” (Mt. 2:10-11, ESV) 

When was the last time you rejoiced exceedingly with great joy?  When was the last time you rejoiced exceedingly with great joy simply because you were in the presence of the Lord?  These two questions made me realize something today.  They made me realize that my prayers have become far too transactional.  I rush into God’s presence, listen for a few minutes, and then start asking God to intervene in the lives of the people and in the familiar places that are near and dear to me.  Then I run off into the world, trying to help those things come to into being.

But I’ve been missing something lately.  I have not been making space and time for contemplation and ecstasy.  I have not been giving God, or myself, room for encounter.  And it is intimate encounter with God that truly transforms us.  It is contemplation and ecstasy that give us the spiritual fuel to reveal the heart of God to this broken and hurting world.  In the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “It is by prayer that the soul draws directly from the heart of God the graces that the active life must distribute.”  Contemplation and ecstasy are integral to life of genuine transformation and impact.

We need to make time and space to dance with him, to listen to him, to laugh with him.  We need to sit quietly with him, to sing and to be sung to, to hold and be held, to kiss and be kissed.  Those are the encounters that give our lives the intimacy and the power to help others find that tender and intimate and transforming space with him as well.  When was the last time you just sat still and let him love you?  After all, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)     

soon

centuries have come and gone

darkness and groaning pervade

but hang on, dear ones

it won't be long now

the journey through the valley of weeping

will soon burst into a season of great joy

the light will come, angels will sing

and the Savior will be born

so hang on, dear ones

it won't be long now

wait for the Lord

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord

conversions

Walking with God is a journey, an invitation to travel from nothing to nothing.  It is a pilgrimage that takes us from nothing, only to lead us back again.  This time to a very different kind of nothing.  It is the journey from a nothing that is totally self-consumed, to a nothing that is devoid of self, because it is filled with him.  No more me.

But there are several conversions along the way.  The conversion from fear to love, from “I’m afraid I’m nothing” to “I am beloved.”  Then the conversion from beloved to our kingdom self, where God lets us know our specific place and purpose in a wonderfully unique and intimate way.  And finally, the conversion from our kingdom self back to nothing in a totally different way.  We become nothing so that he can be all.

All these conversions are necessary, and none can be left out without the whole thing going sideways.  There are no shortcuts in life with God.  In fact, each of these conversions can take decades and require patience and diligence.

Where are you in this pilgrimage?  What conversion are you in the midst of?  And how is God inviting you deeper into this Great Round Dance of Love?

ps 131

O heart, be not proud; O eyes, be not arrogant.  O ego, be dead to the world but alive to your God.  Do not be concerned with bigness or greatness.

O soul, be stilled and quieted.  Rest is the strong and loving embrace of your nurturing God.  Be weaned of need so that you can be free to love.

O hope, be in God alone, both now and forevermore.

setting the stage

the days grow short

darkness dominates

leaves have fallen

trees stand bare

the chill of winter

has taken hold

the season is ripe

for watching and waiting

this dark period is a

necessary preparation

for the coming of the light

come Lord Jesus

the dance of advent

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Most High will overshadow you.  So that the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) Communion, conception, incarnation, it has been the pattern of life with God from the very beginning of the Scriptures.  From the opening verses of Genesis, we see God in communion: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Three persons, one God, living in unspeakable love, unity, and intimacy.  It is communion of the best and deepest kind.  It is from this communion that creation was conceived and then brought into being (incarnation).  God was so full of love that he simply could not contain himself, so he created.  He spoke and things came to be.  His words became flesh, so to speak, ending in the focal point of all creation—man and woman, who were created in his image.  God breathed his divine breath into human beings and invited them into the life and laughter and love of the Trinity.  The whole reason we were created was so that we could experience what the saints and poets and pilgrims have called, “The Great Round Dance of Love.”  Thus, we were created out of communion, by communion, for communion.  Which means that in life with God, everything starts with communion: deep, intimate, encounter with the God who made us for himself.

This pattern comes to life beautifully during the season of Advent, when God sends the angel Gabriel to a teenage girl in Nazareth of Galilee to tell her of how he is finally, after all the years of waiting, going to come into the world to show us how fully and deeply and passionately we are loved.  In fact, Mary is going to be the very channel through with the Son of God will be born.  She is what scholars have called the theotokos, the God Bearer. 

“How will this be,” responds Mary, “since I am a virgin.”  And the angel’s response is priceless: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Most High will overshadow you.  So the one to be born will be called the Son of God.”  Did you hear that?  All of this will start with communion.  The Holy Spirit is going to come upon Mary, and the Most High is going to overshadow her.  The word overshadow in the Greek means to envelop.  It is the same word that is used to describe the intimacy and the power and the glory of what happened to the disciples later on at the Mount of Transfiguration, when the cloud of God descended upon them and the voice of God spoke to them.  Mary was going to be enveloped by the Most High.  He was going to come to her and sweep her up in his divine embrace of love and power and glory.  That’s communion!  An encounter so intimate and so passionate that it would conceive new life inside of her.  “See, I am doing a new thing!” is how Isaiah describes it.  “Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19) 

You see, where life with God is concerned, communion always leads to conception.  That’s just the way it’s designed to work.  In fact, it’s what ministry is all about.  God draws us into communion that is so deep and so intimate that it creates new life in us.  Then that new life is born into the world.  It worked that way in the creation story, it worked that way at the Annunciation, and it works that way for me and you.  Thus, the beauty of the Advent season is that God wants to conceive something of himself deep within each of us, so that he might be born anew and afresh into the world through us. 

Which begs the question: What is the new and beautiful thing he is conceiving in you these days?  And how does he want that new and beautiful thing to be born into a lost and broken world in a way that will bring new life and new hope?  So, during this season, make time and space for the Holy Spirit to come upon you and the Most High to envelop you.  Allow that encounter to conceive something new and beautiful within you.  And then ask God to show you how and where and when he wants that new and beautiful thing to be born into the world.  “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  Come, Lord Jesus!

desolations

“Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.” (Psalm 46:8) God not only works through consolation, but also through desolation.  At times, he brings us down into the dust so that he can build us up.  He tears us apart so that he can put us back together.  Sometimes desolation accomplishes things in us that consolation cannot.  For instance, as a wise saint once said, “It takes a ton of humiliation to get one ounce of humility.”  But who wants to be humiliated?  Only someone who really wants to be humble.  The desolation of humiliation leads to the acquisition of true humility.

The fact is that it might be easier to “Come and see the works of the Lord” through desolation than it is through consolation.  Maybe we really are refined by fire.  Maybe trial and error, pain and suffering, sorrow and sadness, flaws and frailties, brokenness and neediness, form us into the image of Christ much more than comfort and ease.  The hard things in life are the ones that either make us or break us, or maybe even break us to make us.  To make us real, to make us vulnerable, to make us open, to make us true.

Maybe the thing God really cares about is making us humble and meek.  Maybe he is helping us become poor in spirit.  Maybe he takes us to the bottom in order to help us let go of our constant need to get to the top.  After all, the least are the greatest in the kingdom.  Maybe he’s trying to take us so low that we become unoffendable, holy fools, a non-anxious presence in this world.  Maybe he just wants us to trust him fully, to see that even in the times of desolation he is at work.  Maybe he just wants us to recognize that he both meets us and makes us through the desolations of our lives.

my newest book

 

Just released!

Stirrings: A Book of Poems

prologue: sounding the seasons

Tangled in time, we go by hints and guesses,

Turning the wheel of each returning year.

But in the midst of failures and successes

We sometimes glimpse the love that casts out fear.

Sometimes the heart remembers its own reasons

And beats a Sanctus as we sing our story,

Tracing the threads of grace, sounding the seasons

That lead at last through time to timeless glory.

From the first yearning for a Saviour's birth

To the full joy of knowing sins forgiven,

We start our journey here on God's good earth

To catch an echo of the choirs of heaven.

I send these out, returning what was lent,

Turning to praise each 'moment's monument'.

~Prologue: Sounding the Seasons by Malcom Guite

advent is coming

 "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.  If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.  He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins." (Psalm 130:1-8)

Advent is almost here.  On Sunday, we are all invited to embark once again on the sacred journey through the church calendar.  As you all know, Advent is the season of watching and waiting.  But if we start with watching and waiting we've missed a significant part of the process.  It goes much deeper than that, and Psalm 131 gives us a perfect example.  It is a psalm of longing, a psalm of yearning, and a psalm of expectation.  At its heart is what I've come to call the Advent Progression.  It goes something like this: mercy, wait, and hope.  Or, to use words that I have been reflecting on for the past year or so: desperation, dependence, and trust.  Or, to take it a little further: powerlessness, submission, and surrender.

We can simply start with waiting, but if we do we've started in the middle of the story.  There is no waiting without a deep recognition of our powerlessness and desperation, which is where the "cry for mercy" comes in.  That's what leads to submission.  We wait for God to speak, move, or act because we are totally dependent on him.  We can't redeem ourselves.  We can either keep trying to do so or we can totally surrender to him in trust and hope.  Thus, Advent must begin with recognizing and embracing our desperation and our powerlessness, so that we can wait for the Lord, in total submission, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  We must submit to his will, his ways, and his plan, which involves putting our hope in him and not in ourselves, our gifts, our friends, or our circumstances.  "My Soul waits for the Lord" because it can do nothing else.  That's Advent! 

So let us begin with mercy (powerlessness).  Let mercy lead us to waiting (submission).  And let waiting lead us to putting our hope in the Lord (surrender).  For with the Lord is unfailing love, and with him is full redemption.  Thanks be to God!

ecstasy

lost in wonder

mesmerized by

the beauty of you

staring deeply

unable to take in

the fullness of the

mystery before me

so i keep on gazing

as if i had a choice

you have me locked in

holding my eyes 

and my heart captive

with the depths

of your charms

my soul rises within

and takes flight

soaring effortlessly

on the winds

of your loveliness

spoiled from all else

a glance will no longer do

gazing is required

to experience the ecstasy

of your divine presence

all that’s left behind

is a burning fire

deep in my soul

i am consumed

i am all yours

i surrender

quiddity

my soul is bare

the leaves have fallen

the winter chill and

the autumn winds

have stripped away

the covering and

left me standing naked

only the real remains

the true me with all

my flaws and frailties

there is no hiding

only being

being who i am in

all its beauty

and all its brokenness

and that's okay

to become nothing

Lord Jesus, you became nothing (Philippians 2:7) and tell me to do the same.  The problem is that I am constantly trying to become something, constantly striving to be seen and recognized.  Remind me that the real work, the work that changes lives, doesn’t involve being noticed, but is usually not seen or acknowledged by anyone.  But you see it, and that’s all that matters.  So, Lord Jesus, help me to empty myself and become nothing, so that I can be more like you.

gazing

to gaze upon the

beauty of the Lord

gazing is different

than merely looking

or glancing

it is longer and deeper

it is more profound

gazing is really seeing

it is being captured

by what is seen

it is being captivated

by what is perceived

it is beholding

intently and steadily

with great wonder

and immense pleasure

gazing upon God's beauty

calls something beautiful

out in all who partake in

the sacred practice

it leads to true delight

and real transformation

so come and gaze 

upon the beauty of the Lord

and let it have its way with you

through (part two)

the way is through

and not around

for it is in the

going through

that life and growth

are found

going around 

avoids the pain

that going through

turns into gain

even jesus had

to go through

so why should

it be any different

for me or for you

so do not begrudge it

or try to go around

it is by the hard way

that the kingdom is found

through

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me?” (Ps. 23:4) As much as we all would like to go around the valley of the shadow of death, that is not usually God’s way.  We must go through it, at least at some point in our lives.  Probably repeatedly.  That is because going through the valley of the shadow produces things in us that going around it simply cannot.

We might think that the point of life is success and ease and comfort, and our strategy may be to avoid as much pain and discomfort as we possibly can.  But ease and comfort provide little food in the journey of sanctification—of us becoming all God intended us to be.  In fact, they actually work against growth and formation.  God grows and forms us by allowing us the gift of going through the valley of the shadow of death.  It is death that produces new life.  It is in that valley where we learn dependence, reliance, obedience, humility, perseverance, and surrender.

So next time you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death, do not fear.  Do not think that God has abandoned you.  Do not try to immediately get out of it.  Instead, embrace it.  There is much to learn there.  For a wise and wonderful saint once said: “There’s no way out, only through.”  

running

running may be good

for the body but it is 

not good for the soul

the soul needs

stillness and silence

it needs space to 

grow and flourish

it needs room to 

listen and reflect

always being on the go

always needing to be

on the move

is soul eroding

and will take 

a huge toll

over time

but it's a subtle erosion

hardly noticeable if

you aren't paying 

careful attention

you just look up one day

and you're as dry as dust

comparison

the toxicity

of comparison

is soul destroying

robbing us of our

inherent value

and worth

making everyone

a threat and a rival

instead of a dearly loved

fellow human being

making us operate out of

a place of scarcity

rather than out of 

a place of abundance

which destroys life

rather than creating it

fear and ego

trying to make yourself something

apart from who you were made to be

is an endeavor fraught with frustration

and destined for dissatisfaction

it can only be false stuffed with false

trying to become more than we are

is an age-old occupation

impossible to achieve and 

yet relentlessly pursued

a chasing after the wind

a dog chasing its tail

a unicorn as elusive

as it is intriguing

but how can any false self

no matter how impressive it is

replace the true self 

the maker made us to be

how have we become convinced

that who we were made to be

is simply not good enough

how have we allowed the lies

to determine and define us

rather than the truth

ireland pilgrimage

Some ventured out into unknown territory

Leaving the comfort and safety of their routine places and familiar people

They trusted the Lord and set sail on the winds of his breath into a new and beautiful land

There they were swept up in the wonder and the grandeur of God's presence and God's people

They tasted his goodness again and again in who they met and the conversations they had

And in the end they became more the people God intended them to be

Knowing themselves and their God better at the end of the journey than they did at the beginning

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

For he filled their mouths with laughter and their souls with songs of joy.

your will, not my own

the ebb and flow of life

has a certain gravitational pull 

not to mention the pull of the ego

it’s so easy to get swept up in

an abundance of activity 

with little regard or attention to

what is mine to do and what is not

the urgent becomes central 

the important peripheral

no time for stopping

no space for asking

no stillness for listening 

just a bunch of doing

which may or may not be 

what is supposed to be done 

how will i ever know 

if i don’t stop and ask 

how will i ever know

if i don’t listen

in the presence of my enemies

you prepare a table

before me in the

presence of my enemies

because it makes me

truly depend on you

if you took away

my enemies

it would take away

my dependence

and tempt me 

to operate out of

my own resources

two options for advent 2025

 Advent begins on November 30th this year.  If you're looking for a companion for yourself, your small group, your Sunday School class, your church, your staff, or your friends, here are two options.

                                                                       Order My Steps  

                                                                       Watch and Wait

why are you so afraid

“Why are you so afraid?” (Mark 4:40) What a great question, not only for the disciples but for each of us.  Fear has such a profound impact on all of our lives, whether we realize it or not.  Jesus knew that, and he just wanted us to know it too. 

Fear is at the root of so many of our issues, problems, and dysfunctions.  And it’s even at the root of some things that the culture around us would call good things.  But are they?  Really?  Especially if their origin is fear.

For example, fear is obviously behind our anxiety, insecurity, and doubt, but it is also at the root of our drivenness, competitiveness, and workaholism.  Fear is surely the main source of our judgmentalness and criticalness, but it is also at the core of our inability, or our unwillingness, to stop and rest.

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out all fear,” says the apostle John.  Thus, fear is actually the enemy of love.  And if we are called to love, which we obviously are, fear will keep us from being able to do that.

So, I guess we all must answer the question, “Why are you so afraid?” with as much honesty and transparency and vulnerability and reflection and courage as we possibly can.  Because it is only when we recognize fear as the source of our behavior that we can ever have any real hope of transforming that fear into love.     

Lord Jesus, help us not to live in the house of fear but to live in the house of love.  For only then can we love like you love.

weak is strong

Weak is strong in the kingdom of God.  Never in my life have I felt as weak, as flawed, as fragile, and as vulnerable as I do these days, and yet God continues to work in power.  Never has the phrase “treasure in jars of clay” been a more accurate description of who I am and how I’m operating, and yet God continues to show up in amazing ways.  Maybe because I am finally getting out of the way.  

Never has “For when I am weak, then I am strong" been more evident in my life and my ministry.  My weakness, my anxiety, and my dysfunctions are the very channels through which God is doing some of his deepest and best work.  I’ve tried to overcome them all, to no avail, and now I think I’m actually supposed to lean into them and embrace them.  That seems to be what Paul is saying.  I’m not supposed to overcome them because his power is made perfect in my weakness.  Weak is strong in the kingdom of God.  His power is best revealed in my powerlessness.  It’s all about him, not about me.  When will I ever learn?

the kingdom

 the kingdom of God

is like a mustard seed

from the smallest 

of beginnings

it grows within 

until it is able 

to offer life 

and hope

to all in need

of its shelter 

stop thief

let me hear

joy and gladness 

let the bones 

you have crushed

rejoice

fear and insecurity 

are like guilt and shame

always together 

partners in crime 

intent on robbing me

of the joy and gladness 

that are mine in Christ

a new song

God often uses disruption and disorientation in our lives to jolt us out of our apparent self-sufficiency, so that he might give us himself in some new and deeper and more beautiful way.  His desire in doing so is to take us beyond where we are and where we have been―beyond comfort to trust, beyond independence to dependence, beyond fear to love.

So, when disruption, deconstruction, and disorientation occur in our lives, we should see them as friends rather than foes.  We should see them as invitations rather than annoying inconveniences. They are meant to lead us beyond, to a place deeper into the heart and life of God.

Psalm 40 is a great example of this movement.  The whole reason for our time in the slimy pit has to do with knowing, trusting, and loving God in new and deeper ways.  The whole reason for the mud and the mire is that he might put a new song in our mouths, a hymn of praise to our God.  It is the way growth in Christ typically happens. 

the hard way

it is the failures that 

fuel the successes

the humiliations that 

lead to true humility

the desperation that

leads to total surrender

losing yourself that

leads to finding yourself

for narrow is the gate

and hard is the way

that leads to life

and few find it

you see me

you see beyond

the me i have become

to the me you imagined

you see beyond

the ways i have been 

deformed and defaced

by the hurts i've endured

and the lies i've believed

about you and about me

circus mirrors that 

do not tell the truth

but distort and disfigure

your beautiful creation 

you see beyond 

the wounds and the woes

the brokenness and the pain

the patterns and dysfunctions

the compulsions and addictions

the fear and the doubts

you see the real me

the eternal me

the beloved one

the masterpiece

of your own making

and you long for me

to see it too

desired

“I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.” (Song of Songs 7:10)

“Do you know that you are desirable?  Do you know how deeply I love you and desire you?  You are my beloved, my bride, my lover, my heart’s desire.  You are the apple of my eye.  Don’t let the world around you, or the doubt within you, convince you of anything else.”

My you know the depths of his love and affection today.

kingdom life

like a weaned child

is my soul within me

stilled and quieted

free of need

free to love

being still

 “Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

(Psalm 46:10)

Why is “be still and know that I am God” so hard?

Is it because I'm afraid he can’t do his work without me,

Or is it because I’m afraid he can?

powerlessness

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

When will we ever get it through our heads that apart from Jesus we are utterly powerless?  We keep trying to do it on our own, but we just keep “missing the mark” (the definition of the Greek word for sin).  And we will continue to miss the mark until we surrender our attempts to do it ourselves and submit to the power of Jesus to claim the victory for us that we can never achieve for ourselves.  We can’t, but he can.  Lord Jesus, have mercy on us!

Lord Jesus, maybe I keep failing because I keep trying to do it on my own.  I am powerless to do anything but miss the mark apart from you.  Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!

empty

the best you

is going to be

the empty you

stop

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11, ESV)

“Stop means stop.  Stop worrying, stop spinning, stop striving, stop being anxious. Stop your mind from constantly working.  Stop planning, stop strategizing, stop scheming, stop jockeying.  Stop and find your rest in Me.  Be still and know that I am God.”  

His name

For 

His

Name's 

Sake

Period 

demolition

if the house

i have been building

all these years

is mine and not yours

it will come to nothing

it must be demolished

it must be torn down

brick by brick

so that your house

might take its place

demolition is

a significant part

of union with you

for it changes the

substance and direction

of our lives

it stops the climbing

and starts the descent

it tears down strongholds

and rewires thinking

it changes old patterns

and kills old habits

in your wisdom

and by your grace

demolition is always

about transformation

which is your greatest

desire for us

fire

gather the wood

arrange the kindling

place the tinder

provide the spark and

give it room to breathe

is the fire of the Spirit

really any different

we must set the wood

arrange the kindling

place the tinder

and await the spark

ignition comes

only from God

our job is simply to

arrange and tend

but we must not

forget the space

fire needs air

it must have room

or it will not burn

give the Spirit

space to breathe

and the fire will

burn brightly

changing seasons

a season gone by

beautiful in its own time

accomplishing the divine

purposes for which it was sent

a new season arriving

built upon the foundations

of the seasons past

filled with the life and love

the goodness and beauty

of what is to come

moving us deeper

into the heart of

the one who made us

so that we might become

more and more like him 

the peace of Christ

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” (Col. 3:15)

Something is going to rule in your heart today.  Why not let it be the peace of Christ?  Isn’t love a better motivation for living a life that is whole and abundant and free than fear is?  Choosing to believe that you are, indeed, chosen, holy, and dearly loved is the way to making the peace of Christ a reality in your heart.  It’s really just a choice, but one that you must make every minute of every day.

Why let fear and anxiety have free reign in you?  What kind of life is that to live?  Make a choice. Choose to let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.  It is much more of a choice than you think it is.  Choose his peace.  Choose his life.  Choose freedom.

The Blue Book

The Blue Book is now available in Hardback!!!  Spread the word!

resurrection life

acts 9:1-9

when we encounter

the risen Jesus

lives are halted

agendas are dropped

plans are abandoned

missions are received

and lives are changed

starting with our own

wait to soar

But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

It is only by waiting for the Lord that we learn to soar.  For on our own, all we can do is toil and labor and grow weary.  Soaring requires his breath and his strength, not our own.  For our strength will eventually give out, but not his.  He never gets tired or weary and his strength never fails.  So wait for the Lord and let him empower you to heights and depths you never imagined.  That is his invitation to you today.

 

scars

After this, he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. (John 20:20) 

Every scar has a story.  So it’s not the scar itself that holds the healing power, but the story behind it.  The problem is that for many of us we carry the scar but have not completed the story.  We’re just stuck in the pain.  We haven’t been good stewards of our wounds.  For until there is healing, there is no real value in the scar.  It has no healing quality to it.  So we must be good stewards of our pain.  We must let God do his work in us through it.  We must begin to understand the story behind our wounds and our scars, or they will never be of value to anyone, including ourselves.

Touch me and heal me, Lord Jesus.  Bring me to life and raise me from the dead.  Help me show others how you have raised me, healed me, and made me whole.  Make my risen wounds a source of life and hope and healing to others.

they didn't realize

“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.” (John 21:4)

Apparently, it was difficult to recognize the risen Christ, just ask Peter and John, or Mary, or the travelers on the road to Emmaus.  I wonder why that was.  Was it something about him or something about them that kept the realization from happening?  Or maybe it was just the situation.  Maybe it was the early morning sunlight, or their preoccupation with trying to haul in a catch of fish, or their frustration with not being able to do so.  Maybe it was the grief and sadness and confusion of having lost their dear friend and teacher and leader.  After all, Mary came to the tomb looking for a dead Jesus, and what she found was a Jesus more alive than he had ever been.  That would have been a surprise to anyone. 

The real question is not about them but about me.  How many times in my life have I failed to realize it was Jesus?  After all, he has been there all along, but I have failed to recognize it.  And where am I currently failing to recognize that it is Jesus?  Where and how is he standing on the shore of my life, just waiting for me to finally realize that it is him?

Give me eyes to see you, Lord Jesus, and a heart to recognize you in the midst of the events and interactions and conversations of my day.