The Historic Holy Week of Jesus!
That horrible, incredible, unfathomable, amazing, beautiful, redeeming and painful week is upon us. Let’s follow our unswerving Savior into sorrow, cruelty and betrayal that He took on to keep us from being defined by those things.
A unique display of handcrafted art showing the fulfillment of ancient prophecies about Jesus’ death.
We’ll glance into the Saturday before Palm Sunday to see what was happening that day and contemplate how that could apply to us today.
What impact on history and on your soul do you see from this unprecedented week?
After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied…
Isaiah 53:11 BSB
YOLO Soul
“I used to rule the world; seas would rise when I gave the word. Now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets I used to own.”
Viva la Vida by Coldplay
They thought the world was theirs. They struggled, rose, and reigned. They paved, proved, and played. Enjoyed the good old days. They were young and sure to have their way…
They fought and won, had a son, grew cold to pain; morals down the drain
Going after their own gain, peace, and prosperity at another’s disdain
Some did well, sent the evil to hell; brought back some sensibility
Lifted up those in captivity. Honored the One who had fidelity
Most pushed it too far and wept seeing the scar,
Of senseless devotion to wood, wind, and stone
Instead of the Maker who was God alone
The kings of Israel; each given a paragraph of what summed up their life and memory
Myriad years fly by in a reading and all we know of them is a summary,
That gives the gist of what their lives consist
Evil, good, pretty good, bad; some started right but finished wrong
Few started and finished well. Then they were gone
And the text moves on to the next who hopefully went back to the Source with remorse,
And then believed in Him who gave them the choice
A paragraph. Your life in a paragraph. Plopped on a page. That’s all they’ll know of your stage
Whose lead are you following? How clued-in are you to what time is swallowing?
What will your paragraph say?
“For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah…”
1 Kings 15:5 NIV
“In everything he followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD…”
1 Kings 22:43 NIV
“He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam…”
1 Kings 22:52 NIV
“He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the LORD…”
2 Kings 8:27 NIV
“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done.”
2 Kings 15:34 NIV
Rev 14:13 “…their deeds follow them…”
“I beseech you, remember this, that life on earth is a bewilderment and an enigma for which there is no solution, a long piece of irony unless beyond the grave there lie fields for nobler work for which we are being trained here.”
MacLaren on Rev 7:9
Unveiled
“…the veil was torn in two…”
Luke 23:45
How can it be?
The Holy of Holies exposed; A crime unstyled!
Did they rush to repair the broken veil, beguiled?
An act so wrenchingly wrong, insolent, defiled
Who did this? Disrespect gone wild!
“We’ll die at the sight; it’s not ours to see this light.”
Enveloped in the old, the new is too bright
The heavens – dark at mid-day; the earth in a whirling sway
Could this act betray our sacred fray, such disarray?
Did He not say
“You know how to read the sky, why not read the signs of the day?”
The shock of their paradigm unveiled
A Glory beyond us assailed
An eternal undoing for our renewing?
How can it be?
“…when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”
2 Cor. 3:16 ESV
js 3/24
photo from STREETLIFE post
Year-end Review
Make time for you soul!
We underestimate the magnitude of what can happen when we live intentionally.” Dr. Caroline Leaf
Year End Review for Individuals
Shorter option for those with less time:
Soul Hack
If the process of hacking means gaining access to a data system to undo or redo something, let’s venture into our souls that way.
We have an inner data system of “spirit, soul and body” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) that includes mind, will, and emotion; the intricate and mysterious human system. I wonder if we can “hack” it to begin to undo what’s embedded and bring in new data.
I have a friend who had a sad miscarriage and swam in grief for about a year. It began to define her. She couldn’t seem to get above water. They couldn’t get pregnant again. It was drowning her, sloshing her usual outgoing self. In a prayer time with someone, she decided to give the miscarried baby to God. She felt that opened up space in her heart. They conceived shortly thereafter! Of course, this isn’t and won’t be everyone’s story.
But I’m interested in going after the expectations or demands that we unknowingly hold in our souls and that consequently keep us from joy. We all hold expectations that aren’t unveiled until we find ourselves in deep disappointment. Then we can decipher our assumptions.
One of my hacks from my early days of faith realigned my perspective. I had read of Joni Ericson’s accident that put her in a wheelchair for life and I wondered how I would have handled that. As I faced a new day, I would imagine this fate as an alternative to what God was holding before me that day. It shocked me into praise, accepting what my day held and walking into it with Him. It was a helpful exercise giving me perspective to choose what to allow in my thoughts and what attitudes to take on.
We can intentionally carve new pathways in our brains that defy our defaults. In my coaching practice, I often refer to carving out a new path in the jungle of our souls. The old path is still there luring us. It’s much easier, already beaten down from use. But if we want change we have a choice to carve a new path by new heart & mind habits.
“…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God.”
Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV
Refusing the old path, we stand and consider the new way. (For example, instead of an uncontrolled outburst, we can pause to pray, ask a question, or breathe).
We can
- reverse the spiral of self-disdain to value what God has made
- flip the switch from self-protection to curiosity and care
- triumph over triggers by acknowledging visceral reactions and looking underneath them to be transformed
Sounds easy until you try it! Our heart and mind habits are deeply engrained and will take work and practice to hack into our souls. Just as an athlete envisions and drills toward excellence, we will need to envision and practice a new path. We are given the choice and the power for this as we work together with God.
“…present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
Romans 6:19 ESV
We are under obligation to live by the Spirit. It’s our choice to walk in His power! Romans 8:12
What is one spiral, switch, or trigger that you’d like to hack into in your soul data system?
“You [God] desire truth in the innermost being…”!
Psalm 51:6 NAS