Christ is risen! (The last time we will say this until next Pascha. Today is the Apodosis (the Leavetaking) of the Feast of Pascha!)
Have you ever thought about thresholds? Yeah, thresholds. They are important architectural structures. They let you know when you’re passing from the kitchen to the diningroom or from the hallway to the bedroom. Thresholds give all kinds of information to you!
Your life has thresholds as well. Times when you are passing from one season of your life to another. That day when the driving instructions were over and Dad handed you the keys to the car to drive by yourself for the first time. You passed from one season of your life to another. Life is filled with thresholds, and the tragedy is sometimes we aren’t ready for them or we don’t even realize we’ve passed a threshold until we are well into another area of our lives.
But what if you were so aware of your self, so in tune with the seasons of life that you both fully engaged in the moment you are in all the while learning the lessons that would prepare you to step into another area of your life fully ready to embrace that moment as well? Oh, sure, that would be great! All of us would love that! Why do we spend so much money on therapy and counselors and weight loss products and a myriad of other “self-help” products and books? We all want this awareness and this enlightenment.
In today’s Gospel Lesson our Lord Jesus says as much when He is approaching the Passion Week of His ministry. As an aside, don’t you find it enlightening that the readings leading up to the passing from Pascha to the short season of the Ascension (only 10 days) all takes us back to the Lord’s wisdom before He was crucified? So much wisdom here in this disciplined and regular instruction in the readings and rhythm of the Church Year. He who has ears to hear…
The Lord clearly says for us to “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36) But that’s what Light does for us, it reveals all around us and even gives light to our eyes so we can see clearly.
That’s what a consistent and growing relationship with Christ gives to your life – LIGHT. Light so you can see where you are AND where you are going. Light to take in your surroundings; understand your place and your journey; and to expand your appreciation for the thresholds in your life. Why this Light gives you insight into the purpose of both good and bad events and fills up your life with meaning and direction. That’s what a purposeful relationship with Jesus gives you.
But that free act of your will to embrace the Light is the absolute daily battleground all of us encounter every day.
So, today, are you willing to really see all the treasures the Lord has placed at your disposal to help you can become “sons of light?” Are you willing to abandon the stubborn blindness of a small soul for the expansive vision of living in the Light of Him WHo IS Light Himself? If you dare to be that courageous and faith-filled, you will find yourself learning how to freely see clearly and then you will be prepared for the thresholds in your life that will move you ever closer to Him Who calls you to be ready to become who you really are. He already knows your real self. He stands ready today to give you all you need to come to that threshold of light for yourself, and His Church possesses all the spiritual disciplines and treasures you will need to become a child of Light! Sounds like an adventure worth taking, doesn’t it?
Tomorrow our Risen Lord Ascends bodily into heaven in full sight of His disciples, and calls us to be His Presence in His world through His Church. What an amazing faith!
P.S. So many of you have blessed us by visiting the new ministry site www.lifeencouraged.org. Please stop by and sign up for the daily devotional in your email and look around the place and let me know what you like, what you don’t, and what else you think should be there. Our prayer is that this ministry tool will be used to strengthen a Purposeful Orthodoxy in your home!
