I have heard the “Easter” story more times than I can count, and it still moves me but on this past Sunday as the scripture reading of Matthew 26 was being read I listened with the same reverence and feelings as it talks of the plot to kill Jesus, Jesus anointed at Bethany, Judas agreeing to betray, the last supper and the garden of Gethsemane and that’s where I heard it, after the soul crushing prayers of Jesus and the fact that the few men he brought into the garden couldn’t stay awake long enough to help their teacher/leader/master, friend/companion of about 3 years during his pain. Infact Jesus had to wake them up two times then on the third he finally said Matthew 26:44-46 ” Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going, Look, my betrayer is here!”

The “look my betrayer is here” is what got me in a different way, Jesus said my betrayer. He didn’t call Judas every name in the book instead he simple stated what Judas choose to do not who he was. Jesus said his betrayer not “the” betrayer. What a difference a word makes, it is showing that Jesus was betrayed the action not Judas is a betrayer, even out sided of church the name of Judas is known as the betrayer, but what Jesus called Judas was his friend! (a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection)

Matthew 26:47-50

⁴⁷ And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸ Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

⁴⁹ And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.

⁵⁰ And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands-on Jesus and took him.

Later on, we are told that Judas hangs himself, even after Jesus called him friend. Jesus would have forgiven Judas, but Judas couldn’t forgive himself.

Ooh isn’t that all of us though. We hang ourselves over the guilt of the mistakes we make. When all we have to do is accept the offer of forgiveness and begin living a life free from shame and guilt.

We all have that offer but not all take it, don’t you think it’s about time to live?

If you do want to live and live abundantly forgiven of your sins all you need to do is pray.

Jesus, I come to you right now as a sinner in need of you. I admit I can’t live this life without you and am need of you. I believe you are God’s son who died for me and rose from the grave to give me new life. Come into my heart right now and make me clean, I turn from my sins, I accept your gift of salvation. Lead me in my new life. Thank you for loving me. Amen

And, for those who have asked Jesus to come into our hearts then my question is why do we still live as if we aren’t loved and forgiven? I am including myself with this, we let our mistakes keep us hanging, instead of living the life God intended for us. Isn’t life too short for this? Let’s start living!

This past December right before Christmas I woke up to the sounds of sirens and what sounded like a house close by being overtaken by fire, as I opened my eyes, I could see the red from the fire trucks lights flashing on my wall. I looked out confirming what I already knew and that was the neighbor’s house across the street in gulfed by flames and the family standing a few houses down on the sidewalk of a very cold dark early December morning watching their house burn. As the light of a new day began to shine the firefighters had most of the house put out but there was no going back to what once was, the house and all they had was gone.

The season of winter moved into spring then into summer and still no sign of rebuilding even on some days when the wind blew you could still smell the lingering odor of fire then slowly work began. Tearing down what was left and the slow but exciting rebuilding of the new. From walls to the trusses then onto the roof the house is being rebuilt better than it was before. This stuck with me, as I watch the progress and see the owners come by to look at what is being done, I have to ask myself is the horra of a fire worth the nice new home? I have to admit I would rather keep my not so new construction of a home.

And then I think of how reluctant I am to change, to accept and let go. Is it worth it? The family had a choice to either stay in a burning inferno or leave it to stand in the cold and isn’t life just like that? Sometimes we have devastation just to have to move onto difficulty, but the difficulty is better than what was and in time you are able to start to rebuild and have something better than what was before.

I know that no one would ever want to go through devastation that happens in life but what choice do we really have? We can stay in the inferno or go out into the cold that will in time be what will lead to a new and better life. Change is hard but so is staying the same. We aren’t going to have a life without hurt and maybe that is what trips us up when we have devastation. It is attachment and expectation of perfection in a fallen world that can sometimes lead us to stay in a burning inferno instead of braving the cold. Remembering we are only passing through this short life helps me. Yes, we will have hardships, hurt and pain but we will also have beauty too and through it all we have a heavenly father with us!

I was scrolling through Facebook, yes, I do that a lot but as I was scrolling, I stopped and looked at a post of a very high and fast roller-coaster wow did it look incredibly fun! As I looked at the post, I realized something that brought a tear to my eyes. I thought when was the last time I went on one? I used to love those rides!

I know it was a while ago, my kids were teens. It was our last real vacation together. I look back now realizing it was our last time together before growing and moving on. I think if I would have know that was our last one I would have relished it more. Maybe less complaining of my feet hurting or the heat and a little more enjoyment of the fact I had my teens happy to just be with me. We did enjoy the roller-coasters until the very end when we had to file out of the park with the last few remaining people as they closed for the day. With laughter filling the air as we walked to the car talking of our favorite things that happened or even at the long lines we waited in. We all had fun but didn’t realize it for what it was. For me it was the last time to ride on a roller-coaster and for my kids it was the last of their carefree childhood

But

That’s just it we all have our last times, we all have the last hug or hand holding, the last time to tuck a little one in. The last time we see or kiss a loved one. The last day of work, or favorite pass time or maybe the last time we get to enjoy eating a favorite dish. It is never marked with fireworks or a goodbye party, instead it is always done in such a quiet way you didn’t know it was the last time until looking back.

Maybe because our last times are always in such a quiet way, we should make the most of each small little thing we do every day because you never know if it is your last time. The passage in Psalms says it best.

Psalm 90:10&12 (NIV translation)

10)  Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures.
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

12)  Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Named after the crab from the ocean because it has many stems. It holds up well to foot traffic, can grow in cracks of concrete and is drought tolerant. Just to name a few of the reasons this is such a hardy plant/weed. There are a few different kinds but they all infiltrate and permeate your entire yard.

I remember when I worked in the office for my in-law’s lawn business, we would have so many customers calling for help to get rid of crabgrass after they had tried everything to get rid of it. Most were willing to pay any price just to get rid of it.

I always wondered what the problem was and when I asked my ex-father in-law he would just laugh and act like he couldn’t believe I didn’t see the problem. So, I went along and scheduled many jobs for the people who wanted to get rid of it. You can’t just pull on one patch and think you are good; no, you have to go through your entire yard and pull all of it or it just comes back. The jobs were big and even required a backhoe and fresh fill dirt. After they dug up the whole yard going deep to make sure they got all the roots they would put fresh dirt in then would plant the desired grass, plant or sod making a definite transformation for the better, but the homeowner wasn’t off the hock they had to be on top of it to make sure their yard stayed nice and crabgrass free.

I know I should probably write a book about life lessons from the garden because there are great examples in your yard/garden. I am often amazed at how nature is right in front of us to give those lessons, if we noted them.

Just like the homeowner that bought a house with someone else’s crabgrass problem, we can be born into someone else’s hurts and their pain then it becomes ours. We inherit the pain. Just like my children had grown up for most of their life in a violent house with an alcoholic father they now have the hurt given to them because their dad had pain he didn’t know how to deal with. All he felt was pain so what else could he have given?

Or the pain that is given to a child who is molested, a person that is raped or beaten. I could go on with the pain that is given out to innocent people.

They say the people who hurt people hurt the most themselves is so true. It is because of that crabgrass pain that can be the most difficult to deal with. It is someone else’s pain that became ours. I know that without help that pain won’t really go away, we need to call for help, get some heavy equipment so to speak so we can do a total removal because if we don’t it only looks like it’s gone but it’s still there just waiting for the new season so it can germinate and grow stronger if we don’t do the hard very labor-intensive task of uprooting it all.

I am thankful for people who are there to help us deal with our pain. I think God works through these wonderful souls. He is there just waiting to help take care of our crabgrass.

He is only a prayer away and will do the heavy backhoe work replacing the old with the new making a transformation for the better a new and wonderful crabgrass free life.

Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.