Open To The Unexpected
“Everything in life has its own time. There is time to celebrate and there is time to mourn. This is the time for reflection and transformation. Let us look within and change into what we ought to be.”
–Aaron Saul
As many of us both turn our gaze inward and look to celebrate safely with loved ones during Holy Week in the Christian tradition and Passover in the Jewish faith, there is an opportunity to open our hearts and minds to the unexpected.
There are miracles to be found in the transformational stories told this week in both of these faith traditions. After a year of so much heartache and times of being stretched-to-the-edges of our resilience, may we be strengthened by the hope and greater capacity for joy that can come on the other side of suffering.
Or, as Joyce Rupp so beautifully expresses: “And every year the dull and dead in us meets our ‘Easter challenge’: to be open to the unexpected, to believe beyond our security, to welcome God in every form, and trust in our own greening.”
May you open to the unexpected this week and may Spirit surprise you with delightful blessings beyond your imagining.
Passover Affirms…
“Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the unalienable right of every human being.”
― Morris Joseph
The Easter Challenge
Every year it happens:
earth shakes her sleepy head,
still a bit wintered and dull,
and feels new life stirring
Every year cocoons give up their treasures,
fresh shoots push through brown leaves,
seemingly dead branches shine with green,
and singing birds find their way home
Every year we hear the stories
empty tomb, surprised grievers,
runners with news and revelation,
unexpected encounters,
conversations on the road,
tales of nets filling with fish,
and breakfast on a seashore
And every year
the dull and dead in us
meets our ‘”Easter challenge”:
to be open to the unexpected, to believe beyond our security, to welcome God in every form, and trust in our own greening.
― Joyce Rupp
