I so appreciate the times where I'll be reading along in the Bible and something will just grab me.
Sacred space is not always the most holy. Riding the train to the office the other morning I was working hard to block out the commentary of a gal who, I would conclude, desperately need some attention. She was just far enough away that it would have been awkward/obvious to get up from my seat to go see what I could do to change the course of the conversation she was so willingly sharing with the balance of the passengers. Instead, I offered an arrow shot prayer for her language and crude descriptions of inappropriate behavior and returned my focus to the reading for the day (which was for about 8 days earlier because I had fallen behind).
More than half way through I was fighting my wandering mind until, “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” (Matthew 28:8) Finally, the connection with heart and mind was made; this I could rest in.
When we seek to experience and engage with the risen Christ what happens? We seek Him in our place of death – they were at a tomb. We come as we are – lowly peasants. We come in bondage – females in that time were often perceived as property, possessions. Then we encounter the unexpected – an angel of the Lord and raw emotion takes over – fear.
That is where sometimes I stop. I stop at fear.
“Fear is stealing from me joy and the desire to run!”
Thankfully, on this possibly two thousandth time I have ridden the train to work sacred space appeared and I was reminded why I have embraced a change in course. I was created to embrace joy! I have purpose in running to tell disciples about Jesus; those that know and those that will come to know.
I, like the women before me, will chose to be, “…afraid yet filled with joy…”
