The message of Good Friday

When we were visiting Florida one beautiful spring day, we experienced the blessing of seeing a skywriter perform.  Here's what the pilot blazed across the sky:

Some of the lettering had faded by the time I snapped this picture, but perhaps you can still see that the message is "Love God."

A year later, we saw a skywriter perform once again.  This time the message was a little different:

We didn't get to see the finished words here, but we knew what they would be.  The skywriter was spelling out "Jesus loves you."

On this Good Friday, I'm pondering these two messages, blazoned on the sky by courageous pilots. Two messages about the Lord we worship.

I was watching TV footage of a street demonstration of some kind. One of the participants held a poster stating, "Jesus loves you but God is holy." I have no idea what the demonstration was about; it could have been any number of hot-button issues, I suppose.

That sign broke my heart.

It contained two important facts, of course. Jesus does love you--no matter who the "you" is. And God is holy. But why would those statements be linked with the word "but"? As if they are in contradiction to each other? As if God and Jesus were in disagreement about something!

Today, Good Friday, we commemorate the greatest act of sacrifice ever made—the crucifixion of Jesus. After taking on a human body, after living a life free from any kind of sin or guile, after teaching and loving people and reaching out to those most despised by society and healing the sick and restoring sight to the blind, Jesus allowed himself to be put to be tortured and put to death.  Jesus died so we could live. Yes, Jesus loves us.

And that radical plan for the salvation of humankind—the son of God living on earth as a human, teaching people how to live, allowing Himself to be killed—that plan wasn't just the work of Jesus. That was the work of all three members of the Trinity. God is ONE God in three persons, and Father, Son, and Spirit love us. There can never be a disagreement within the Trinity.

Yes, for sure, God is holy; Father, Son, and Spirit are holy. But let's not take the idea of "holiness" and turn it into a word that means distant, far off, or unapproachable.  Because that's not the way God is at all. God is right here. God is good. God is full of love and compassion.  The words are so familiar that they can seem trite, but they're not: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Years ago, when I was participating in a retreat for Christians, I heard something that I'd never thought about before, something that imprinted itself on my very soul. A number of us all had our heads bowed in prayer, and then the leader asked us to say out loud what we knew to be true about God. From around the room came one comment after another:

"God is good."

"God is merciful."

"God is gracious."

"God is glorious."

Those were all good and true statements, and we all murmured our assent to each one.  Then one member of the group, a very wise man, softly added, "God is Christlike."  I'd never thought about it in just that way before. My head snapped up and my eyes flew open—and I wept. Of course this is true. God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. They are all like one another.

If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus, the one who allowed Himself to be put to death for our sake.

Thinking about the love of God reminds me of my grandmother. She was a precious woman, one of those sweet ladies who sent birthday cards to every young person she knew. She worked for many years at an elementary school and was loved by hundreds of kids, so she sent a lot of cards. She usually tucked a $2 bill into those cards. And she always signed them the same way.  On every card, she wrote, "Smile. God loves you. So do I."

As I remember the events of this day, that's the message I'd like to see on a poster.

Smile. God loves you. So do I. 

Dear God, may my life proclaim the message you proclaimed so loudly on that blessed Friday so long ago.

A blessed Good Friday to you, my friends.  What message would you like to share on this day?

Grace at Home No. 292

Dear ones, it's Holy Week! I hope your week is blessed as we remember the great love of God, who loved the world so much that he sent His son. Because of His grace we are alive. It's His grace we celebrate every week, His grace that enables us to make our homes places of grace.

Here are some links from last week's party I hope you'll enjoy.

Colleen from Life on Kaydeross Creek shared lots of tips for decorating a mantel for spring. I really like this one of her combinations.

Laura from Decor to Adore shared some easy, inexpensive tips for updating a bedroom for spring. I've never made seasonal changes to our bedroom, but Laura's post makes me want to give it a try.

If you're still trying to add some Easter decor to your home, you'll be glad to get these easy instructions for making a cute moss bunny from Diane at An Extraordinary Day.

If you need a good laugh today, you'll love this Spring Break horror story (with a happy ending) by Karmen at Chairs from the Curb. It's hilarious!

For some wonderful Easter inspiration, I highly recommend this post by Michele Morin from Living Our Days. 

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Inspiration for the week: Palm Sunday

This month in North Carolina has been frustrating.

After warm temperatures and beautiful, sunny skies in February that led to early blooms on the trees, March has been full of cold and snow and wind and rain. Folks from the North probably laugh at us, but here in the South we're not equipped for snow in the springtime.

Still, regardless of the weather, Holy Week has come. Today is Palm Sunday, and though I had to wear a coat to church this morning, I want my heart to be ready to welcome Jesus this week.

Perhaps, like me, you could use a little extra preparation for Holy Week. If so, you might enjoy reading this poem from G.K. Chesterton.

"The Donkey"

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me; I am dumb.

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

And perhaps you will join me in this prayer: 

Dear Lord, warm our hearts to welcome you. Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to recognize Jesus as King of Kings.

A blessed Palm Sunday to you!

Grace at Home No. 291

Good morning, friends! Welcome to the Grace at Home party, where we celebrate the ways we make our homes places of grace.

Here are some posts from last week's party that caught my eye.

Easter is fast approaching, so I was tickled to see how Lori from Dining Delights decorated her kitchen sideboard for Easter.

If you're doing some Easter decorating, you'll be glad to see how Lisa from Fresh Vintage by Lisa made these "He Is Risen" blocks from Dollar Tree supplies.

If you're looking for some Easter crafts to do with kids, Leslie at From Playdates to Parties has you covered.

Lindsey from Repurpose and Upcycle wrote a tutorial for how to make oversized portraits on the cheap. You know you'll be taking photos of kids at Easter; here's how you can display them.

If you're planning a special Easter breakfast or brunch, you might want to make these adorable lamb cinnamon rolls from Jas at All That's Jas. My kids would love these!

Be sure to read "With Jesus, Your Home Is More Than Enough" from Tiffiney at Welcome Home. You don't want to miss this inspiring post!

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Grace at Home No. 290

Hello, friends! It's the middle of March! How did these first weeks of March go by so quickly?

We've been on "Spring" break this week, but if you follow me on Instagram (I'd love to see you there!), you know it hasn't been too springy for me.

Oh, well. Spring is coming, I know!

Meanwhile, here are some links from last week's party I thought you'd enjoy.

Jen at Noting Grace transformed a plain-Jane pantry into a pretty farmhouse space.

St. Patrick's Day is just two days away! If you're looking for a fun and easy treat, you might want to try this "Lepre-corn" from Pattie at Olla-Podrida.

If you're ready to decorate your home for Easter, you'll be inspired by the Easter touches Penny from Penny's Vintage Home has added to her house.

I was tickled to get this recipe for "Preacher Cake" from the LouLou Girls. Apparently this is an old recipe that relies on items you'll likely have on hand so that you can whip up something yummy when the preacher is coming to visit! (Anyone else remember the days of preachers making home visits?)

As for me, I had a rough week last week, which caused me to reflect upon how grateful I am for God's redemption. I'd love for you to read "Hanging on to Hope" and let me know what you think.

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Hanging on to hope

Boy, am I glad it's a new week.

As I turn the page to a new week in my planner, I'm awfully glad to leave last week behind and to look with hope at the unsullied week ahead.

I'm really glad for some hope, because last week was hard around here. More than once I found myself agreeing with Alexander, "This is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day." Remember that book by Judith Viorst?

Maybe you've had days like that, too.

In the middle of those days, I realized something about myself. If you've read the book, you may remember that Alexander himself is telling the story, and the whole thing begins with this sentence:

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth. . .
   And now there's gum in my hair."

Everything goes downhill after that, but it all started with the dadgum gum.

Which, in my mind, always provoked the question: Why on earth did he go to sleep with gum in his mouth?

Or the admonition: Never go to sleep with gum in your mouth.

Or worse, the accusation: You idiot! You know better than to go to sleep with gum in your mouth!

Somehow, as I surveyed the bad situations of last week, I always landed on the accusation.

You idiot! Why did you do that? Why didn't you do this?? You know better!

The problem with the accusation is that there's some truth in it. Alexander should have known better than to go to sleep with gum in his mouth. I should have known better than to do some of the things I did last week.

But knowing better doesn't always stop us from making mistakes, does it?

I'm thinking there's another way to interpret that first line of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, one that my soul desperately needs: confession.

I need to sit here honestly and say, "Look, I did some things I shouldn't have done. I messed up, and now we're all paying the price for that."

If I can press pause right there, if I can honestly admit to God and to other people that I did indeed screw up, I can stop the downward spiral.

No, I can't squirm out of the consequences of my mistakes and my sins. It may be that I'll have some terrible, horrible days. But I don't have to go all the way down to "no good."

My very favorite thing about God is that He can take any circumstance—even the terrible mistakes I make—and bring some good of it. The official term for that process is redemption, but I'm not sure that word is adequate. "Redemption" is what I do with coupons at the grocery store. It's what my mom used to do with S & H green stamps.

But the redemption God offers us is not at all mundane; it's miraculous.

I think we forget sometimes that God is quite capable of miracle. It's easy to measure God's abilities through our own feeble means, to hope only for forgiveness, because that sounds so hard to us. We want God simply to disregard our mistakes; we wish only that circumstances could be as if we had never sinned. But God can do better than that.

I made a mess of things last week. To be honest, I'm not even sure how to go about correcting my mistakes. But God doesn't have that problem. He can see the beginning from the end. He can see what contributed to my mistakes. He can see into my heart and the hearts of everyone affected by my sins.

And He can look at all that with eyes of eternal love, through which He can see what needs to be done.

My vision is distorted. I look at myself through eyes of condemnation and reproach. But that's not the way God sees me. Condemnation and reproach are the furthest things from His mind.

I can offer God the truth about myself, terrible as it may be. I can admit my deepest failings.

And then I can ask God to do what no one else can do. God can take even the worst of circumstances and use them to write a different story. He can bring about something new and beautiful from the mess, not despite the mess.

Only God can do that.

With God, there will be days when I screw up royally. There will be terrible, horrible, very bad days.

But there will never have to be days that are no good.

"God is light; in Him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5). Redemption is His jam. In His hands, we are safe.

Joining Jennifer Dukes Lee for Tell His Story

*This post contains an affiliate link.

Grace at Home No. 289

Welcome to the Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace. I'm so glad you're here!

Here are some links from last week's party that I think you'll enjoy.

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner now, so I was tickled to see this darling St. Patrick's Day tablescape from Rita at Panoply. Check it out--you're sure to find some ideas for your own St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

If you're looking for a fun St. Patrick's Day treat for kids, look no further: Brandie from Home Cooking Memories shows us how to make these darling lime sherbet floats. What a great idea!

If you're like me, you're always looking for new weeknight dinner ideas. I was tickled to see this recipe for One Pot Cheesy Italian Goulash from Erin at Delightful E Made.

Here's an unusual post I think you might like to read. Sweet Debbie from Debbie-Dabble is wondering if it's worth it to continue blogging. Truly, blogging has changed so much over the years; it's really not what it used to be! Debbie's presence in the blogging neighborhood is delightful. I think you'll enjoy this post.

Last but certainly not least, I was inspired by this post from Dr. Michelle Bengtson: Your Pain Is Never Wasted. No platitudes, no dismissal of pain. This is good.

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

Grace at Home No. 288

Welcome, friends, and Happy MARCH! Can you believe that February's over? It seems that we were just celebrating New Year's Day and now, poof! It's nearly Spring!

I'm grateful that you're here for the Grace at Home party. Here are some highlights from last week's party.

I'm a big fan of botanical prints, but they can be pricey. Lindsey from Repurpose and Upcycle figured out a way to make them very inexpensively, and she's offering free botanical prints for us to print. Aren't these pretty?

For me, springtime is the time for cleaning and organizing, so I was glad to see how Jen from Noting Grace has organized her kitchen by dividing it into different zones. She opens all her cupboards and drawers so that we can see just what she means.

If you need a little help in the spring cleaning department, you'll want to check out this post from Joy at Artful Homemaking. She includes a free spring cleaning printable.

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, so I was glad to see this adorable button shamrock created by Danielle from A Sprinkle of Joy. She gives full instructions for making your own.

And for more St. Patrick's Day inspiration, you'll want to check out all the cookie recipes from Ann at Duct Tape and Denim. Don't these look delicious?

Katy from Single Yet Engaged shared some hard-won wisdom about the different seasons of life. I think you'll be encouraged by this post.

As for me, I was touched by the fact that this week marks the 15th anniversary of the death of one of my heroes: Fred Rogers. I'd love for you to read what I learned from Mr. Rogers.

A big thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!  I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured, feel free to grab the "I was featured" button.  I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party!  Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it.  Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page.  Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!