Sneaking in the Back Door

A few weeks ago I arrived home, daughter in tow, and walked through the back door of the house to find a large garter snake apparently enjoying the warmth of our laundry room. Sarah Frances had not yet seen it and so without really thinking I quickly grabbed it with the plan of taking it back outside. A few steps into the garage the poor snake did what garter snakes do best, it wrapped its dangling self around my arm. And it was at this point, I'm a little embarrassed to admit, that I screamed, and dropped it. We both looked at each other for a bit, and I did snap a picture, but before I could get up the nerve to grab it again our visitor slithered into some wood stacked in the corner of the garage and I decided he, or she could just stay there. This story was shared excitedly to everyone by my daughter and ever since one of her friends has been begging me to put a snake in my box. So today I did.

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, something we would rather not have in our house comes slithering in the back door. God knew that being human, we would always have sin sneaking into our lives one way or another. The snake first appeared in the garden and has been with us every since. Once it is in the house, whether from sneaking in the back door or coming boldly in through the front, it can be difficult to get it out again. It takes courage to examine our heart and admit what shouldn't be there. And the hardest sins to be rid of often wrap around us trying to stay put. But take them outside we must. For we have be given the gift of Christ to help us clean even the most vile pests from our homes and hearts. All we have to do is ask.

Dark Glasses

A few years ago I embarrassed myself in the airport. I spent the weekend visiting friends in Nashville. Sunday afternoon I arrived at the airport tired and ready to be home, my mind whirring with schedules and activities for the coming week. When I got to the gate after a cursory glance around I quickly opened a book to avoid making eye contact. I boarded early and watched others file past without really looking at who was on the plane. After we landed as I was walking quickly through the lobby I was grabbed by a close friend. Apparently I had not only not seen him standing near me, I didn't notice that his daughter had been on the plane with me, sitting just a few rows back. I was so wrapped up in my world, I had failed to notice the world around me. It was almost as if I had been wearing dark glasses. 

I think that most of us have had the experience of not recognizing someone. Sometimes it is someone we haven't seen in a long time. It might me the result of a change in hair color, or length. And sometimes we miss seeing someone because he or she is somewhere we don't expect him or her to be. I'm not sure what the reason was for Cleopas and an unnamed disciple walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They walked and they talked and yet only that evening when the stranger they invited to dinner took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them did they recognize the risen Lord. "With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him but he vanished from their sight". (Luke 24: 30-31)

So what happened? What allowed the disciples to see Christ standing before them? I think it is because the resurrected Lord, unlike the human Jesus, requires eyes of faith to be seen. And by taking off the dark glasses that obscure our view of the world, and instead using eyes of faith we too can see the resurrected Jesus in all types of people, and in all manner of places. We simply have to look. 

Stones in the Path

My children have always liked to collect rocks. The rocks don't have to be special, or beautiful, they simply have to be available. We have collected stones from creeks as well as gravel from driveways. Once one of my children once found a huge rock that he had to have. Unfortunately he found it as we were climbing up a mountain in North Carolina. Stubbornly he carried that rock up to the top and back down again, and for years it lived in an aquarium in our house. Typically my car and my purse have rocks in them, along with countless shoeboxes in our house and a small basket in my office. I chose a few of these rocks to put in my box today.

After Jesus was crucified he was taken down from the cross, placed in the tomb and a huge stone was rolled in front of it.When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. As they walked in sadness a very practical thought came to them. It was the stone. The stone was clearly too large for them to move on their own. And without being able to move the stone they would have no way to get to their Lord. Even the smallest children in chapel seemed to know the next part of the story. When the women reached their destination they found that the stone had been rolled away, leaving a clear way for them to enter. No obstacles blocked their discovery that Christ had risen.

As we walk though life we may find many stones in our path. Some will be small, and some will seem to big for us to move, but the path to the risen Lord will always be cleared for us.