A Time to Reflect
Spending some down time over the holy days of Easter and beyond has given me time with family and time to think about life.
To reflect upon the most important things.
Like God, family, relationships, love….
I am reminded about Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8:
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8 NRSV
Not just noise but words with love.
Not just busyness of life but love focused on people.
See how Jesus loved – totally, sacrificially, humbly, selflessly.
Total love for us. Thinking about our future relationships with Him.
Do we think about our personal relationship with Him? Or do we just go with the flow, with the crowd mentality changing from day to day?
Are we stable and do we have solid convictions about life, about this God of love?
Do we see Him as Our Savior? The alpha and omega – the beginning and the end?
We are only completed in Him, with Him in our life.
These few days have been very special.
A refocus, a recommitting of my life to my precious Lord.
An ‘ahhh’ moment of directing my heart more to the Lord.
What have you done this Easter?
Of course this has also been a time to reflect on the life of Pope Francis. We pray for Pope Francis at this time the prayer he asked for, that our Lord is so merciful, and may He extend mercy to Pope Francis as he enters heaven, his final resting place.
We pray also that the Holy Spirit falls upon each Cardinal as they soon contemplate who to vote to be our next Vicar of Christ.
May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’
Love
Rosemary
Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How did you spend the last few days over the Easter weekend? How did you reflect on the death and resurrection of Christ?
Was there a moment that you sensed God’s presence with you?
How will your personal relationship with Jesus change this year as a result of Easter?
5 Comments
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Jill Mitchell
Hi Rosemary,
This Easter season was incredibly blessed.
There is such a build up journey at Church to this most important Easter season.
It was wonderful to coincide with the Jewish Passover and enjoy the celebrations in Jerusalem too, knowing that Jesus, being Jewish, was right there too.
And yes, the passing on of Pope Francis, reminded me that our God always knows the right time.
Have a blessed day and please know that we are praying for you xx 🙏
Valerie Lack
I had planned on going to Mass Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I got to none of them. I became ill on Thursday, and spent the days following sneezing and coughing and not fit to be around or near anyone. No Easter visits from beloved children, no visits from neighbours. The only Masses attended were online and am thankful.
Perhaps the Lord decided I needed quiet time.
Lorraine Good
Rosemary
I hope you are feeling much better. I can relate to being ill over some Christmas and Easter times. I miss the beautiful celebrations but this Easter I attended Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. I am in the choir and the music bring Jesus closer to me. I certainly felt his presence this Easter season. The goose bumps happened more the once. God has been very good to me.
Feel better soon
Lordsine
Debbie Auchstaetter
Hi Rosemary,
I felt very blest through Holy Thursday, Good Friday , the Easter vigil Saturday night and the beautiful Sunday Easter service. I was blest to be able to read at these celebrations! And I alwats ask Jesus to be with me, that I may read calmly & clearly, so that those listening may truly understand. But at the same time, I feel like I let Jesus down a wee bit, through the Lenten season. I didn’t know what to “give up”, so I gave up nothing. Oh, I thought of giving up my coffee gatherings I do with friends, about 3 times a week. But I was more concerned with what they would think. Would they think I was some sort of religious fanatic? Giving up coffee time? Seriously? And how do I explain my feelings? I’m doing it because I love Jesus is what I wanted to say! To honour Him! To remember all He was going through, to save me. But I bowed down and didn’t do a thing! I feel so ashamed and sorry. But I have told Jesus through these past few days, how sorry I am. I know in my heart he forgives me. I love him now more than I thought possible.
Thank you Rosemary, for your times of prayer! You do touch my heart with your words!
Debbie