Tis the Season...

Tis the Season to realize and remember how dirty I am. Today is Good Friday, and it has been steady raining all day. The funny thing is that when it rains on any other day, I tell the kids that the rain is God's way of telling us we need to be cleaned. How appropriate is it that TODAY is a day to remember how God cleaned my sins away?

Last night we went to our church's Maundy Thursday services. It was a beautiful combination of dramatic monologues from those who were around Jesus as he made the ultimate sacrifice, music, and the Lord's Supper. Last night's service was yet another reminder that Paul, Mary, Judas, etc were actual people. I know that sounds crazy, but so many times we can forget that they were real, and they become characters in a story. Ever since I had my first child, a boy, my perspective of what happened on that cross has changed. As a mother, I can understand the anguish Mary went through watching her son, her firstborn, her child be nailed to a tree. I can understand the frustration and even anger of what she had to go through mentally to watch  her child be executed for loving everyone. And then later she sits in front of the tomb as her child is being buried. How incredibly heart-breaking. Under any other circumstances, I would not have blamed Mary for dying right there of grief.

What I am reminded of, though, is how easy it is for us to remember WHY Jesus died for us. Mary knew her son, Jesus, would have a special purpose. She knew that Jesus was God's Son. And instead of rejoicing at what he was doing for her, she was mourning. Just as I forget, so many times in my daily walk, what he did for me. So many times I forget that Jesus took all my sins and wiped the slate clean so that I could be in God's presence when my time comes and rejoice! It also reminds me of how much of a sinner I am. How dare I, after knowing what Jesus did for me, after teaching it to my children, how dare I continue to sin?! I fall short of God's glory every day. I deserve absolutely nothing of what Jesus did for me.

And yet He still died for me....Jana.

And for that, I am eternally grateful.

May the Lord bless you and your family today as you reflect on this season. May you remember that God gives each of us a new day every day to make things right with Him. And may every time it rains, you are reminded of how God sent His son to clean our sins.