Mary Cried

She hurried to the tomb
saw the stone had rolled away.
Looking on in the inside,
her Master did not lay.
Falling to the ground.
Tears drop from her eyes.
Torn with deep despair,
Mary cried.

Lost and all alone,
she looked up from the ground.
Presence of the Gardner,
but still no solace found.
"Woman," said the Voice.
"Look on Me. Here am I."
And when she saw the Master,
Mary cried.

At times I feel like Mary.
Frightened at an empty tomb.
Lonely, tired, doubting
of life's untimely gloom.
His call is soft, yet piercing.
"Look on Me.  Here am I."
He is risen.  He is calling.
And I cry.

'91

Good Friday

This is what happened to me on this Good Friday:

1. I sold a dresser for $40 to two middle-eastern looking and sounding men who made no comment when my eight year old son bid them farewell by saying, "And I hope you both have a Good Friday today!"

2. My nine year old daughter shared this Isaiah scripture with us during family scriptures . .  "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all..." and then asked, but what does sheep have to do with the Savior? It made for a sweet discussion.

3. Ordering nine sundaes with nine different toppings while going through the drive through takes a piece of paper and a pencil and a whole lot of repeating.

6. As I read THIS today, I learned that even through the Savior's darkest moments, all glory went to His Father.  Which made me ask myself if I am doing the same.

5. My 12 year old son learned the hard way that removing his seatbelt while going through the drive through can lead to both a sore head and a cracked windshield when mom needs to brake abruptly so as not to hit the car who is oblivious to the traffic exiting the drive thru.

4. I'm learning that Good Friday is good because Sunday will come.

Thoughts on Opposition and Contention

Opposition: actions or opinions that show that you disagree with or disapprove of someone or something

Contention: Strife; struggle; a violent effort to obtain something, or to resist a person, claim or injury; contest; quarrel.

There is an eternal law that there must needs be an opposition in all things.

The devil has cunningly changed enmity for sin, to contention filled with hate and malice.

Which has brought me to ponder, does my opposition change me to a "contentionist," particularly when it comes to issues that involve morality and God's law?  How can I successfully rise above the contention and still passionately oppose those things that are morally wrong?

Perhaps even a better question, can opposition still leave room in my heart to love those who are filled with contention?

As I mused these thoughts aloud to my children, the story of Job came to my mind. And I was reminded that God knows how to perfectly oppose evil without contention.

He knows how to speak against evil without causing war. For the war is created by those who allow contention to overrule their opposition, no matter how soft spoken contention may be.