It's hard to slow down. You have so many things in life to keep up with, family, kids, faith, jobs, social commitments. But Pause and Pray has reminded me that I am just human. I cannot speed up what I do without it causing some serious health issues or hurting my family life.
Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus - it took three days.
Jesus could have died on the cross, been taken down, mourned over, anointed and wrapped, placed in the tomb and risen the next day. But he didn't. He was inside the tomb for one entire day. We count it as three, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and then Easter Sunday. But it was two nights and one entire day he was in the tomb. Why did it take so long?
Do you possibly think he was trying to teach us another lesson, in addition to the giving of his life for our sins? Maybe he was trying to help us focus on slowing down, stopping and taking a breath, Pausing and Praying, thinking deeply of the God who loves us. Because he was Jesus, he could do anything, but as always he is teaching us. Teaching us to stop, remember why we are on this earth which is to praise and give glory to God by what we do each and every day of our lives. And truly all God wants us to do is stop and look at His creation and see how beautiful it is and to feel His love for us.
We cannot do that if we are pushing our kids to constant activity, if we are running from place to place whether it's for work or home. We cannot live the life God wants for us by rushing, never taking a breath and never stopping to see the real glory of the Resurrection each and every day of our lives. Maybe take three days!
The Resurrection is about Jesus dying for our sins, not so we can live another day on this earth staying busy. Busy for what? We should be busy for Christ, but even that doesn’t mean filling every moment with activities. It means Pausing, Praying, considering how blessed we are to be here in this moment, giving thanks for Jesus. He died to save us so we could live in joy knowing how very much God loves us.
Jesus’ Resurrection can live in each and every one of us. But we have to give something too; ourselves in the moment, in our breath, in our slowing down and looking to Christ and thanking Him for dying for us.
