Silence


For twenty-two years I lived in a small three-bedroom one bath home out in the country, I often referred to it as my cottage in the country. The house sat in the middle of three-fourths of an acre of flat land. There wasn't a neighbor within a half mile radius.  The front of the house faced the west, overlooking a huge crop field.  In the middle of the field stood a huge majestic oak tree, with nothing but crops surrounding it. The house sat far enough back from the road that I wasn’t bothered by the random car or two that would pass through, so I often took advantage of sitting on the front porch on cool crisp mornings. My simple routine on these beautiful mornings would be to put on my robe and slippers, fix my favorite beverage, grab my spiritual journal and just sit on the porch, take in the beauty of God’s creation and breath in the intoxicating silence.

Those twenty-two years in my cottage in the country were some of the most formative years in my walk with Christ. The conversations I had with God on that front porch will forever be etched in my memory.

Psalms 62:5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.

The weeks preceding Easter (Resurrection Sunday) 2020, there was so much uproar in the news and on social media about folk not being able to celebrate Resurrection Sunday at Church or however folk wanted to celebrate because of the corona virus pandemic: Pastor’s defying the stay at home order, social media posts depicting children in their Easter attire with eggs and bunnies all around them, grudgingly stating that their child missed their first Easter.  Admittedly the babies were cute and wanting to celebrate Resurrection Sunday with other like-minded Christian’s in our church buildings is nice, however our focus should be on Jesus not on ourselves, nor what we think we are missing out on by not being able to celebrate Jesus Resurrection in the way we are accustomed to; in other words, our rituals and customs have become synonymous with Jesus Resurrection and that my fellow Christian’s puts us out of order with Gods word.

If it had been any other Resurrection Sunday weekend, I would have probably spent Good Friday and Saturday looking for something to wear to Church on Sunday.  Sunday morning, I would have gone to Church and admired all the beautiful outfits, listened to the sermon with joy in my heart.  The Church would probably have had a program for the kids, we would probably have spent a reasonable amount of time greeting visitors, then went on our way to enjoy a Resurrection Sunday meal, however, this Resurrection Sunday, Resurrection Sunday 2020, was not a normal day. There was and is a plague engulfing our nation with people dying by the thousands every day.  This fact alone should cause use to pause and check our motives asking ourselves who, what and how are we celebrating our Saviors Sacrifice?
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Last weekend I didn’t publish a post because I was nudged just to be silent. I got up Sunday morning and didn't  turn on the TV to catch the latest news, didn't check social media to see what everybody was doing, .  Yes, this Resurrection Sunday was different, I was forced to evaluate the way I celebrate Easter, and as a result, I felt impressed to get up early, grab my spiritual journal, sit on my back porch in my robe and slippers with my favorite beverage, take in the beauty of God’s creation and breath in the silence. 

Much Love
Melissa

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