Change

The Grave Was Silent

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The iron gates creaked eerily as she entered the Valley of Shadows. Slowly descending into the haunting abyss of death, she wove through an endless sea of gravestones until she found the one that bore her name. Fighting the fear that threatened her resolve, she took the shovel in her weary hands and began to dig deep.

A veil of darkness overtook the evening sky, and thick fog blurred her vision, but she did not stop until her mission was complete and the last vestiges of her old life sealed permanently beneath the earth’s surface. Leaving her grave clothes behind and wearing the armor bestowed upon her by the King, she turned toward the dim moonlit path that would finally bring her home. But the invisible paralyzed her from moving forward.

Cold hands reached from the barren earth below, pulling her helplessly toward the grave. Struggling to break free from the grip of death, she came face to face with the corpse she had buried minutes ago. It was her mirror image, only it reeked of her old habits and selfish ways. As she clawed against earthen soil, the lively corpse fought relentlessly against her—seeking to drag her into the eternal shadows.

Though she cried for help, she was certain no one could hear—and that she was meant to fight this battle alone. Weariness set in, but just as her vision threatened to give way to impending darkness, the fog lifted and the stars illumined a cross in the distance. With her last remnants of strength, she broke free from the grip of death and ran to the cross, clinging desperately to it.

As the corpse descended from the shadows, she remembered the book the King had given her. Holding it to the light, she cried out the words from the pages: “Behold, I am a new creation—the old has gone and the new has come!” Light penetrated darkness, and the corpse let out a hideous shriek, retreating to the grave, defeated at last.

Finally free from the clutches of death, she walked the narrow path that led home. Dawn broke forth in the horizon. As she turned to say a final goodbye to her old self, the grave was silent.

 

Flash Fiction by j.e. fernandez

Photo Credit: File:Glendalough round tower and graveyard at night.jpg …

The Mirror Speaks

Blog_MirrorsSometimes I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “What happened?” It’s like disaster struck as I slept, wreaking havoc on my face and turning my hair into a tangled mess. My reflection doesn’t hesitate to talk back. “You got some work to do, sweetheart.”

It reminds me of a story my husband told me. Back when he was a teen, he and his cohorts decided to decorate a friend’s face with marker as he slept. Once they completed their masterpiece, they woke their friend and drove off to the local fast food joint. Met with unusual stares and amused glances, the friend made his way to the restroom. The whole place fell silent as a terrified scream filled the air. He had seen his reflection. And it wasn’t funny. At least, not to him.

Mirrors have a way of revealing our blind spots. In them, we see what’s out of place and what might need some fixing up. As for my husband’s friend, the mirror showed him a face that needed a good washing.

In my blog post The Get Up Call, I talked about how current events expose just how messed up our world is, and just how much we as individuals need change. News headlines have become like a mirror, revealing how desperately our hearts need transformation. In a world rife with violence, racism, terrorism, and more, we’re awakened to the reality of our need for change.

Now, when the guy with the markered-up face saw his reflection, do you think he tried to use the mirror to clean his face? Um, no. He went straight for the water. Only water has the power to make us clean.

God’s Word—the Bible, is a mirror. In it, we see how far we’ve fallen away from the standard of perfect love. But the mirror is not what cleanses us. Instead, it leads us to the water.

The mirror speaks. In this crazy world, we need a rescuer. Jesus came to be that rescuer, and he is the water that makes us clean.

The Get Up Call

Blog_AlarmClock02I used to love the snooze button. It was my early morning friend, allowing me a few extra minutes to enjoy the comfort of a warm bed before launching into a busy day. My daughter helped break my snooze-button habit for a short while. As a baby, she was up all hours of the night and morning. It was a glorious day when she finally learned to sleep past five. After that, mornings were blissful.

Until my son came along. He’s the enhanced model of the “Alarm Clock No Snooze” system. With him, there’s no in between. In a matter of seconds, he shifts from deep sleep to extreme awake. And once he’s up, I have no choice but to get up with him or there’s no telling what he’ll get into.

As for my daughter, she’s now progressed to where she claims to be “allergic of” getting up. To make things easier, I try to sing her awake. She opens her eyes. She smiles, she giggles. But still, she’s under the covers, comfy and on the verge of returning to dreamland. She’s awake, but she’s not up.

Observing my kids’ morning habits makes me realize a deeper reality. There’s a difference between waking up and getting up.

We hear about school shootings, terrorism, gang violence, racist acts, and more on a daily basis. The increasing amount of disturbing news has served as a wake up call to multitudes. Something’s wrong, and something needs to change. If we don’t deal with the root of the issues before us, things will only get worse.

The problem is, we’re awake, but we’re still in bed. We’re awake, but we’re not getting up. We’re aware that our world is in turmoil, but we’re still comfy under the covers. We’ve responded to the wake up call, but we haven’t heard the get up call just yet. It’s quite possible we’ve become “allergic of” getting up.

Waking up involves opening our eyes and ears. But we still haven’t moved from a position of comfort. Getting up requires action. It requires moving our feet and stepping away from our place of comfort and into the realm of movement.

We’ve come to the point in our lives when it’s not enough to wake up anymore. It’s time to get up. It’s time to do something. And that something begins with change, and the change begins with us.

What’s one of the first things we do when we get up? We look in the mirror. We see what needs to change, and we change it. In this case, the change begins in our hearts once we finally hear the get up call.

New Things

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“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor 5:17)

 

Source: A Case of Stolen Identity

Photo Credit: Vernazza trail Italy open gate.jpg | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Identity Crisis

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There is a truth that is greater than the lie. Our identity is not found in what we’ve done, for the good or for the bad. Our identity is not about who we’ve been but whose we are. Jesus Christ died on the cross that our identities can be transformed. In him, we are given a new identity. We’re no longer the addict, the prisoner, the failure. Instead, we’re chosen, redeemed, forgiven, loved…and free.

 

Source: A Case of Stolen Identity

Photo Credit: File:Flower reflection.jpg – Wikimedia Commons

Never the Same

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Only God’s supernatural power can enable us to change. Only His love can so radically transform us that our lives are never the same. And only then, out of gratitude, can we live the lives we were destined to live.

 

Source: Do Not Read this Blog Post

Photo Credit: Plant in dried cracked mud | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Do Not Read this Blog Post

Blog_Warning_LawThe sign said, “do not throw stones.” Nothing ambiguous about it. But at different times throughout the day, as we walked along the beach, the common scene was that of people throwing rocks…at the sign.

What is it about the law that makes us want to do the opposite? What is it about rules that arouse disobedience? And what weakness within motivates rebellion? The law cannot change a man any more than the mirror that exposes a dirty face can make it clean.

When they were teens, my husband and his brother decided to play a joke on their friend. While he was sleeping, they decorated his face with marker then woke him when they arrived at the local burger joint. What do you think the guy did when he saw his face in the bathroom mirror? Screamed, yes. But did he then take the mirror off the wall to wash his face? No. The mirror pointed him to the only thing that could make him clean…water.

Lasting change can only come through our recognition of the powerlessness of the law to change us. The law, like the curb on a street, can keep us safe. And like a target, it shows us where to place our aim. But like a mirror, it shows us how far we fall short…and how much we need divine intervention if we’re ever to change. Only God’s supernatural power can enable us to change. Only His love can so radically transform us that our lives are never the same. And only then, out of gratitude, can we live the lives we were destined to live.

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do…” (Romans 8:2-3)