Meditations

  "Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and the burden I give you is light." Mathew 11:28-30 (JCB)

  I have homework this week. Yes, my church gives us homework in keeping with the fundamental belief that faith, Jesus, is an every day partner and not just reserved for a Sunday's service. All of us have been asked to meditate on this passage every day.
  This isn't a foreign idea to me. It's what I am doing with the Lazarus story. Thinking about it from many different angles. (Ha, the typo was angels before it was corrected!) Imagination is allowing me to make the story richer.
  So this is what I am going to use this time for: meditating or exploring this passage from Mathew for the next several days because I am not so great at thinking unless there's written words to reflect on.
  Writing keeps me focused. Writing enables me to expand on an idea, an inspiration. I don't write full steam ahead. I take numerous, short breaks to meditate, to think. Writing enables me to delve deeper into understanding.
  The breaks are much needed moments of opening my heart and mind to the Holy Spirit because the breaks are infinitely more valuable than words. SELAH. (means to pause, to meditate). The breaks are needed for the mind to expand.
  It's no coincidence that this passage is being brought to mind again because I think I had recently written something about the yoke that sparked a dialogue with a friend.

  As we did a practice run yesterday at church, I was blessed with an image when we reached the part that says, "The burden I give you is light."
  It is one of my greatest joys, being given a visual representation of an idea because they encapsulate a thousand words. It also touches my heart with a generous dose of infusing love because God knows I am a visual learner. He has always known.
  I quickly sketched a pair of pierced hands representing the hands of Jesus. Beams of light are emanating from the holes left by His sacrifice on the cross. It streams out from the front and back, lighting the darkness.
  A few strokes of a pen have had a profound impact.
  It's possible that Jesus means the burden isn't heavy but the thought of having a burden made of light intrigues me.
  It would weigh nothing.
  Light chases away shadows. Light also reveals what's hiding in the dark.
  Holding up the fruit of darkness to the Source of this light is the first step in letting go of hate, shame, blame, guilt, bitterness and a whole lot more. The light is the birthplace of honesty, of confession and release. After honesty, grace and forgiveness have space to move in.
  Light guides our path. If experience has taught me anything, it's knowing the path of grace and forgiveness is a winding road. Knowing the path before us doesn't mean it's an easy road.
  Not knowing the path is an opportunity to develop trust. (Smile. I need to work on that!)
  Jesus gives us His light burden because, in allowing it to infiltrate every part of us, we cannot stop becoming a light unto the world.

  To God be the glory!