"Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king
comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Zechariah 9:9
"And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.' " Luke 19:41-42
"And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.' " Luke 19:41-42
In some ways, the weekend vacation gave me some perspective on life. It's easy
to forget about Good Friday when you are caught up in the triumphalism of Palm
Sunday. It is easy to worship when the crowd is worshiping, but it is hard to
stay with Christ when the crowds turn. It is easy to look at the promises of
Christ and forget what it takes for us to keep our end of the bargain.
Both processes, turning clay into pottery and turning tea leaves into tea, involve a breaking down, a drying out, the application of heat. The clay is made stronger and resolute after it is formed by the potter and fired. The tea is made more potent by being crushed and chopped and baked. There's a lot to think about there. He is the potter, we are the clay, but the potter puts the clay to bake in a thousand degree oven. We can have a greater effectiveness, a greater usefulness as God's hands and feet, if we let ourselves be crushed first. Wine comes from crushed grapes, bread comes from wheat under the grindstone. It is often difficult for me to allow God to work on me like I know he must. To prune, to purify, to return.
This life has those triumphal, relaxing, uplifting Palm Sunday moments. There are also brutal, discouraging, demoralizing, Good Friday moments. But at the end of it all, there is the one, glorious, resurrection moment. Let that be enough.
Both processes, turning clay into pottery and turning tea leaves into tea, involve a breaking down, a drying out, the application of heat. The clay is made stronger and resolute after it is formed by the potter and fired. The tea is made more potent by being crushed and chopped and baked. There's a lot to think about there. He is the potter, we are the clay, but the potter puts the clay to bake in a thousand degree oven. We can have a greater effectiveness, a greater usefulness as God's hands and feet, if we let ourselves be crushed first. Wine comes from crushed grapes, bread comes from wheat under the grindstone. It is often difficult for me to allow God to work on me like I know he must. To prune, to purify, to return.
This life has those triumphal, relaxing, uplifting Palm Sunday moments. There are also brutal, discouraging, demoralizing, Good Friday moments. But at the end of it all, there is the one, glorious, resurrection moment. Let that be enough.
-Eric
PS: But really, how could one not be happy when one is holding a chimpanzee?)
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