First responses

All photos from BBC Day in Pictures, January 2

I woke this morning with a to-do list and a song in my head. The to-do list whirled around with possible outcomes:

• Did I understand that email correctly? Was I supposed to extend an invitation or is the meeting host making the arrangements. Check in with the leader before moving ahead.
• When I ask the store for this item, the response might be a) ... or b) ... or c)...
• The list from last week's team meeting: pull it out and get moving on it.
• Write a thank-you to ...

And so on.

The song conducting my waking toe movements is a happy one: (Click here to listen.)
Chorus:
You have been so good to me
You have been so good to me
I came here broken, You made me whole
You have been so good, You have been so good
You have been so good to me (repeat)

Verse:
How can I thank You, there is just no way
How can I thank You, Lord, how could I repay
For Your kindness, for Your tenderness
For Your constant Presence here with me

Before I roll out of bed, I grab the IPad on my nightstand to listen to a daily coaching moment with Dr. Dave Martin. This morning he talks about the consequences of humanity's fall. God asks Adam and Eve two questions: 1) Where are you? 2) What have you done?

In a coaching setting, what great questions to evaluate the past before doing the next thing.

As usual, my mind churns in a direction not necessarily intended by Coach Dave. My question is: What would have happened if Adam had been honest and repentant? What if, instead of trying to stay hidden, the first people had confessed: "We both messed up. We did what you forbade. How can we make it right?"

From everything I read in scripture, God responds to sincere grief over wrongdoing. An entire wicked city was spared from judgment when they mourned their sins. (Read about it here.) Would God have reacted differently to Adam and Eve, had they fallen on their faces with a heartfelt "Help us! Forgive! We are sorry!"?

Instead, Adam and Eve go into the world, raise children, and die at an old age. We can't prove that Adam and Eve were good people among sinners, as many of us assume. Adam died in the generation before the flood of Noah, when Noah's father Lamech was an adult and wickedness was rampant on the earth. Adam may have been the model of awfulness that his kids and grandkids followed, though the Redeemer was promised in his lineage. (Crazy to think about, isn't it?)

How faithful God is to his promise. How can it be that I fall among those chosen to believe? Unfathomable. Amazing.

By the time I eat breakfast, my head fills with theological possibilities, my heart's singing about God's faithfulness and "Barmherzigkeit" (lovingkindness and mercy coming from the heart), and I'm eager to see what the day holds.

What a wonderful way to start the week! How was your Monday awakening? What was your first responses to God's "Good morning, dear one?"

Read more:
*Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the LORD our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters. After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the LORD had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel. 1 Kings 8:65–66

*Psalm 18:7-15; 1 Chronicles 26; Acts 16:30-17:3

*The Lord put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Psalm 40:3

*Jesus said to the blind man, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God. Luke 18:42-43

Moravian Prayer: Compassionate Savior, we praise you this day. Keep your praises on our lips and in our hearts. Touch our spiritual eyes that we may see you more clearly and worship you faithfully as you created us to do. Amen.

Lent Day 40: Thankful for grace

Another Lent season is drawing to a close. I didn't get to my computer yesterday, making it 3 or 4 days that I missed in my writing discipline. Plus I fell flat on my face into a habit yesterday that sidelines me spiritually. Time again for regrets and repentance.

I am grateful for Don Ross' blog on how to recognize genuine repentance. I don't need it for others. Such guidance works best when I'm facing myself in the mirror.

Imagine never having to say your sorry, not because you're a jerk or actually unrepentant. Imagine living life to the full - laughing, crying, working, playing - without ever hurting yourself or others. Jesus lived that kind of a life.

Today, in the reflective pause between Good Friday and Easter, I'm thinking about the silence of God when I deserve punishment. Christ has died for me. God considers the death I deserve paid in full.

Easter is coming! My heart begins to sing with the relief and release of forgiveness. He has done it!

You and I can forgive all that has been done against us because of Easter, too.

Read more:

*The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10
*For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV

*Christ says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." John 14:27

*This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Lord, as St. Francis prayed, make us instruments of your peace. Guide us to console more than seeking consolation, to pardon more than asking for pardon and to know that in death we are born to eternal life. In Jesus' name. Amen.