Looking for Signs

It is a small world.

This morning I received a blog post from a beautiful couple from India. They are in the travel business and I had the privilege to have dinner with them several years ago. To encourage their community, he wrote:

“As all of us around the globe self-isolate into quietude, we are reminded of humanity’s interconnectivity....We are all going back to our roots, to our friends and loved ones on an inner journey to reconnect with life’s simplicities that sometimes pass us by.”

I could write about any part of that quote – inner journey, quietude, reconnecting with simplicity…you pick one.

Easter morning, I rose early before daylight, lighting a single candle for my sunrise service of one.  It was there I read about the women coming before daylight to the tomb only to find that Jesus was gone. According to the story, Mary Magdalene lingered at the tomb.  Scripture says she looked in again – maybe thinking she had missed him.  Instead of finding Jesus, two angels greeted her and asked her why she was crying and who was it she was looking for.  She still lingered. Then Jesus appeared to her, but she thought him to be the gardener. And she pleaded with “the gardener” to just tell her what he had done with the body and she would go and get it. Then he said her name. Stunned, her eyes were opened and she recognized her Lord.

 And then he was gone.

Here is where I considered walking outside to my garden, putting myself in Mary’s place, looking for Jesus, wondering if I might have an encounter such as hers. Looking back on the day, I wish I had, but I was simply too comfortable in my chair, wrapped in a throw, savoring my coffee.  My quiet.

Or maybe I was afraid that He wouldn’t show up for me in the form of some sign, some message of hope, some reassurance of His love and authority over me. 

But this morning I did walk out after a night of storms in Atlanta and was rewarded by the bloom of the first Siberian Iris. Maybe this was my sign. Oh, how I wish they would linger a while in my garden. Like Mary, I wish they would stay with me for a while.

Ecclesiastes gives us words that remind us there is a time for everything. 

Time to enjoy the blooms.

Just don’t let them pass you by.

Ecclesiastes 3

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³     a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.