Saturday, March 30, 2013

Dear God,

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?"  The line from our Easter choir anthem, "He is Not Here; He is Alive" spoke deeply to me and I wondered why it is we go to the "dead" to find life.  Oftentimes we go down dead ends, to non-essential things, to lifeless relationships, and to deadly places falsely believing we will find life there.  But what person ever does?

As we sang the song at this evening's Easter service, I realized how often I had taken off down dead-end streets thinking I would find what I was looking for.  However, every time I was disappointed.  I never found my answers there.  Although I met with disappointment and discouragement, I discovered you there waiting for me.  Each time you challenged me to move, go another direction, or return to the place where I stepped off the road.  The insight came to me that life can only be found among the living.

You revealed to me we can discover life in many places but a true life of joy, one that leads to wholeness,  is the same one that leads to holiness.  We seek life because we seek you.

No one
cares more
than you,
dear God,
no one.
When we
go looking
for happiness,
you urge us
to long
for real joy.
Please forgive us
when we grasp
for cheap substitutes.
Remind us
how your joy
leads to
fulfilled lives.
Thank you,
thank you,
thank you
for your
strange and
wonderful ways.

Love, An drea