A day off from the grand-children, though I’ve quite enjoyed spending time with them I have to admit. So today’s simply been different. But more normal, which really means tearful again. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about a song I came across on a Bruce Springsteen album entitled ‘Oh Mary don’t you weep no more’… it’s an American Negro spiritual from over 150 years ago. It’s basic message is designed to stir hope and apparently resistance to slavery. And that kind of fits where I’m at I suppose, as I need to keep sight of the fact that grieving is a journey and not a place of abode. I can walk through it and live again; in time the tears will ease without any disrespect to the wife I’ve lost. She deserves tears but would not want or should I say does not want me to surrender the rest of my life to them.
So the song speaks to the Mary of the New Testament whose brother Lazarus had died (John 11) and then interestingly intertwines a faith statement from an event that happened over a thousand years previously as if it were directly connected. Moses, leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt is trapped on the shore of the Dead Sea with Pharaoh’s army hard on their heels. An act of faith opens a pathway across the sea which then collapses to drown the pursuing army (Exodus 14). So then, the example of faith has to do with Moses in his impossible situation as presented to encourage Mary in hers… and of course her story unfolded with our Lord Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb and back from the dead four days after interment.
I find the Bible to be filled with encouragement covering every challenge that life presents and offering guidance on the way to live in every area of my life... including my impossible situations. Some days I find it rather challenging to digest but with just a little perseverance and sometimes careful study I find it absolutely comes alive as a very relevant hand-book to life in the 21st century. It truly is the Word of God written especially for me when I choose to read it. It feels as if I’m gonna cry for the rest of my life but really I know that God will one day open up a pathway leading to a fresh lightness in my spirit, a restoration of joyfulness and complete fulfilment once again. And one day I won’t be quite so lonely I’m sure.
John 11:40 ‘Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”’ (NIV)
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