Jesus is still risen today. And next week. And next month. And in November.
That's what I've been thinking about today.
The mourning and waiting and celebrating really are what make Easter matter, but they also exist in our everyday life. That's what I want to remember on this Monday after the celebrating and proclaiming and praising.
I gave up worshiping Productivity for Lent. And, honestly, I feel like God changed me in those 46 days. I don't say that to be dramatic, but because not bowing down to my to-do list created with much-too-high expectations is a process God has had me on. For years. So, obviously, I'm not a totally different person in six and a half weeks, but I'm less stressed and less hurried because God taught me some things.
My days are less defined by my production. I've laid down my to-do list for relationships. I've set aside what I thought I needed to do for my friend who needed some help and encouragement.
I've gotten plenty done in what's a busy season, but I've enjoyed my life in the process. I'm embracing a one-thing-at-a-time approach. Yes, I write things down on my calendar that's usually in my purse, but I cross them off when I can.
Sure, some days I rushed around and spoke harsher in the hurry, but those moments have been less. And I've realized God's given me perspective to balance my natural tendencies.
I've demanded less of myself so I can have more of God.
For someone who has crammed too much into her calendar for far too long, it's quite appropriate I ended the Lenten season on my the back porch of our lake house with a fiction book, good food, my family, and my best friend's family. The view there gives peace to my soul, regardless of whatever is happening in real life.
"Christ continually shouts through the universe, 'You have a love that is already yours. You have nothing to prove to anyone. You have nothing to prove to Me. You are significant and preapproved and utterly cherished. Not because you are good, but because are you are Mine.' ... This is what God does, this God of all glory and dominion who reaches down with a holy hand to lift our chins and turn our eyes toward the Son, so we may look full in His wonderful face and 'forget ourselves.'"
{Jennifer Dukes Lee in "Love Idol"}
Isn't that what the Easter message is really about? As I let God deeper into my life, I remember Jesus is enough. Who I am because of what he endured on a cross and how he shocked the world by rising again is what should define my days.
This Lenten journey was prompted by Jennifer Dukes Lee's book "Love Idol." You can read my previous "Love Idol"-inspired posts here. Obviously, I recommend the book, if you haven't read it. {I posted a review here.}
I'm linking this post with Jen Ferguson's Soli Deo Gloria party, Jennifer Dukes Lee's #TellHisStory and Beth Stiff's Three Word Wednesday.
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