While reading and preparing for Palm Sunday, I took special note of the verse, “His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.” John 12:16
The disciples had just retrieved the young donkey, and Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem under the shouts and praises of the crowd. The disciples knew the old testament. They knew what it said in Zechariah 9:9 about the Messiah. You would think at some point and time, they would stop and realize, “This feels eerily familiar. I have heard about this somewhere.” In the excitement of the daily events, they did not make the connections.
A couple of summers ago I decided to plant a mimosa tree in our front flowerbed. There was a mimosa tree outside my bedroom window growing up, and I have found memories of the pink flowers dancing just beyond my window year after year. I read the tag on the tree when I bought it. I read all of the planting directions. I knew what it said. I knew what to expect with a mimosa tree, but I missed some major connections. I was so caught up in the nostalgia of planting a tree from my childhood and filling a gap in our flowerbed, that I just let it go right by me. Towards the end of the first summer, I had a brief thought about how big that tree was getting. By the next summer, it all became very clear to me. I had planted a tree that not only made a huge mess, but also needed more space than was available in our flowerbed.
Hindsight is so clear. The disciples were busy worrying about the political scene, trying to stay safe, and excited about what they thought was going to happen. They missed all the signs that Jesus would be crucified for our sins. In many ways they were oblivious to his plan until after it happened.
There should be no judgment from us placed on the disciples. It is easy to miss Jesus’ plans when not paying attention. How many times do we get consumed attending to the revolving door of problems in front of us forgetting to go directly to the problem solver?
How many days go by with every minute spent checking off the never-ending tasks on a “to do” list only to later realize zero time was set aside for Bible reading or spending time in God’s presence? The day is gone with only time left for a quick promise to do better tomorrow.
If I had just stopped and thought about the planing directions, I would have saved myself from the now required annual lopping off of tree limbs and most likely eventual tree removal.
Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” We have clear directions from God’s word that we should dwell on daily. The benefits of putting aside the daily distractions to read, reflect, and remember can save us from so many problems.
Just the other day, Scott and I were shopping for some furniture. Ironically I somehow found the most expensive chairs in the entire store without looking at a single tag, and Scott found every orange chair in the entire county. I reminded him that orange is not a color we decorate with and he reminded me of our budget. My point is, we find what we look for.
nights I’m home and to pack a lunch for Scott and I Monday thru Thursday. Last Tuesday, I roasted a chicken in the Instant Pot for dinner and then for our lunches, I took the chicken we didn’t eat to make chicken salad sandwiches. I have done this successfully in the past. I simply put the leftover pieces of chicken in the Ninja, grind them up, add some pecans, grapes and dressing – voila, chicken salad. I’m telling you, the sandwiches looked devine as I packed them in our lunch bags for the next day. However looks can be deceiving.
Last Tuesday was just one of those days. It started out in typical fashion. I was headed to work, thinking through my day when I noticed the display panel on my car read “no phone connected.” At the same time, I saw the perfect place to turn around. With breaks squealing, I whirled my car around and headed back home. I called Scott on my watch and began telling him all the places to start looking for my phone. The whole time I was giving him directions, I distinctly remembered putting my phone in my purse before I left. As Scott looked in all my usual phone forgetting spots, I then and only then thought to look in my purse. I was almost back to the house by now when what do you know? I had my phone with me the whole time. If I would have only stopped to think before I reacted and whipped my car around, I could have saved myself 15-20 minutes that morning.
Christmas letters and stuff them in the envelopes. There is a little more involved than it sounds. You have to adjust the print to match the outline of the stationery. As I thought I had everything lined up perfectly, I noticed one line began with “I went to Denver.” I couldn’t imagine why I would have typed such a statement. I did’t go to Denver by myself. I quickly, without thinking or reading the statement in context, changed the I to We and printed 87 copies of our Christmas letter. As I was stuffing envelopes, Scott picked up the letter and began reading it. He got a puzzled look on his face and read out loud. “Scott and we went to Denver???” See, the words Scott and were on the line above and I didn’t notice them. The sentence originally read Scott and I went to Denver, but I changed the I to we. I now faced the decision of whether to send out the letter with the terribly ugly mistake or head off to Hobby Lobby. Well, we ended up going to three Hobby Lobby’s that night to find enough of the right stationery that matched the cards. Again, if I would have taken only a brief second to read the entire sentence before I hastily made the change, I could have saved myself a couple of hours of grief.
View From My Shoes 