Happy Birthday!

We interrupt our newly announced series to bring you the celebration of the birth of my beloved....Matthew!

Happy birthday my love, I cherish you!

Here are some pictures from Matt's birthday celebration at Pt. Reyes Station, CA. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! :)

Matt & I

Racing down the hill...(and back up again!)

Matt, in action :)

Matt, as a hieroglyph

Now that's some birthday love!

I thank God every day for you!

Good Friday

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
- I Peter, 11:24

***

Today is Good Friday.
While many would look at the atrocity of Jesus’ crucifixion as being anything BUT good, today marks the deliverance from sin and into salvation.

"We may say that on the first Good Friday afternoon was completed that great act by which light conquered darkness and goodness conquered sin. That is the wonder of our Savior’s crucifixion."

- Phillips Brooks

". . . when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
- Aslan the Lion, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday; maundy meaning 'commandment.'

On this Thursday before Easter we remember the night that Jesus took the disciples to the upper room and together they had their last supper. We remember and reflect upon the commandments set out for us that evening as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and broke bread and drank wine declaring a new covenant...our salvation in his death and resurrection.

For me, Holy Week has become a time of reconnection and recommital in my relationship with God. Maundy Thursday, in particular, illustrates the intimacy possible in a relationship with God...and paints a picture of grace: "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God." {link}

My heart aches when I think how bittersweet those moments in the upper room must have been for Jesus, knowing all that was to come in the hours ahead.

***
"After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them."

John 13:12-16
link {here}