This Life

“Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.”
- Acts 5:20

It's interesting that THIS is the charge given to the Apostles after the Angel released them from prison. And I say interesting, I guess, because I would expect their orders to be more along the lines of "tell people about Jesus" or "tell people about the Kingdom of God" or "spread the Good News." But instead the angel instructs them to tell people everything about this life.

To me this just confirms what I have long suspected...that "Eternal Life" begins now...it begins here. There is no waiting for death...our new life begins now. Death is just a transition. It is an event. But it is neither the start nor the end. Jesus calls to give us life...life here and now...and without end.

"...I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." - John 10:10b

And so the Angel is instructing the Apostles to tell people that Jesus is about life...about the lives they are living right now. Jesus is here...ever-present...desiring to be a part of our lives. Not just in some lofty, theological sense...but a part of our every day, minute-to-minute lives. Again Jesus tells us:

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life..."

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The resurrected Lord is about living. All that He taught...all His commandments...all that He calls us to begins in this life. The path to God is practical. Holiness is practical. Saints are practical people.

If we keep waiting for something to happen so that we can start experiencing God's presence in our lives...then we have already missed it. God is here...now. We just need to ask Him to open our eyes....and to let His Word teach us how to live, how to grow, and how to love...not "when we get to Heaven" or once we become holy...but right now...in This Life!

The Size of the Moment

I realized today that I have this idea...this expectation...that in order for a moment to be meaningful...it needs to be big. Somehow I've constructed this belief that a moment has to be life changing...or at least highly significant and memorable...to really count. And by really count...I guess I mean for God to consider it worthwhile. I keep feeling like he has given each of us this limited number of moments...and we are suppose to be doing great things with them. We can't get to the end of our life and see it was all a collection of grocery store shopping...video game playing...or even book reading. We have to DO things.

Despite that a part of me refuses to believe it's true...I walk around feeling like my mundane moments...the walks with the dog...the cooking of meals...the changing of litter boxes...the washing of dishes...these moments are being wasted...because I am not doing something more significant. Even moments watching a movie with my wife...or hurrying through a bath with my daughter...they seem insignificant. I sometimes find myself asking is THIS what life is suppose to be?

But something in me keeps insisting that this idea is wrong...that it is twisted. And lately that something has been getting louder.

One thing I want to do during Lent is learn to invite God into more moments of my life. I want to invite Him in to the busyness of my job. I want to invite Him in to the stressful moments...in to the prideful moments...in to the selfish moments. I want Him to be with me in the moments I spend watching TV...washing my daughters hair...brushing the dog. I want to open myself to His presence both when I am in a passionate conversation about my Faith and when I am trying to figure out how to get the third star on a level of Angry Birds.

I can't say I have it all figured out...or that I can even articulate it clearly. But it feels like something inside of me is saying that moments are significant...because of His presence. It has nothing to do with what we DO....but rather it has everything to do with His being there. Moments aren't big because of the circumstances or outcomes...they are big when He is in them.

Father, please teach me how to allow You into each moment...and how to make every step I take...significant in Your eyes.

Ashes

It is all too fitting this particular Lent that it begins with ashes. As I receive the dark outline of the cross on my forehead, my heart's prayer was that on Easter Sunday the ashes in my life are not burned palm branches...but the charred remains of my sin...my rebellion...my stubborness...my independence...my self-reliance...my selfishness...my anything that separates me from God. Lent is a time to crucify...a time to send to the fire...a time to put to death the self...the flesh...the stuff that gets in our way of being who God created us to be. I want to use this Lent...to allow God to use this Lent...to make me more of who I really am....more of who He really made. This is my heart's cry.

"Remember, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." -Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." - Mark 1:15