He is not here

"He is not here" was the theme of yesterday's sermon. Today my brother sent me a cartoon with the same title by Johnny Hart (who does the B.C. comic strip). I doubt that is a coincidence!

After 40 days of Lent which anticipate the death of Jesus, it is tempting to linger at the empty grave instead of looking for Him in the world outside. Following Christ in the world demands much energy, imagination, love and faith, and we seldom possess these qualities consistently. We tend to seek Him in church or Sunday School or Bible study groups and forget to follow Him in the grocery store, at school, in the carpool line, or in the neighborhood.

Today I found myself multi-tasking at home, since the church was closed. While doing the laundry and emptying every shelf and cabinet in the kitchen in preparation for painting, I prepared a meal to take to a friend who just had a baby as I supervised two repairmen fixing leaks outside. Not so long ago, I would have been doing all that and taking care of two little girls as well!

I took a break to deliver the meal and was rewarded with a nice drive on a spectacular day and a good visit with my friend, her mother and the precious new baby. When I got back to the house I was refreshed enough to finish all the chores in record time.

Cooking and delivering the meal to my friend and her family didn't add to the stress of the day it all. Rather it took away from it. Doing something for somebody else in my checklist of things to accomplish today actually made everything else easier.