Saturday

A weekend of birthday party celebrations, Easter joy, suprise egging, and family fun allows for brief escape. There is such joy found in celebrating life. And yet before Easter there is Friday. Friday full of angst, agony, pain, death. Christ tortured and crucified.  I can't even begin to imagine the agony and pain of that day for those there. Oh how I hate Friday. I am so relieved that my Friday is over. I never have to live through January 2 again.... thank you God. But on the other side of Friday, we have Sunday: the glorious resurrection, the celebration, the joy.  Oh how I long for Sunday. And yet in between the agony of Friday and the joy of Sunday, there lies Saturday. The day not spoken much in the gospels, and yet there. A day of waiting. A day of questioning. A day of confusion, and sorrow, and tears. And I realize I am Saturday. Grief stricken by the horror of Friday and longing for the joy and hope of Sunday. I sometimes wonder why there is Saturday. God could have taken those disciples and loved ones long ago straight from Friday death to Sunday resurrection life. Instead, he chose to have them wait, ponder, question, trust?.... Did they despair on that Saturday long ago? Did they remember the promises of Jesus and hope in them? Did they weep and mourn as I do? Did they wonder why? What is the purpose of Saturday?  To develop something in them? In us? I don't know.  Oh Lord help me cling to hope when all seems like despair.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14