I don’t pretend to understand how grief works, but I do think I’m beginning to understand that grief is a normal process that looks different in each person. My way of grieving may not look like yours, but it is in no way lesser or greater. The part I love is that for those who have placed their hope in Christ, we do not grieve without hope or purpose. We know that Jesus redeems grief and that death no longer has the final word. But even knowing the end of the story and how He would soon raise Lazarus from the grave, He still grieved.

Grief and lament are a part of this life in a beautiful but broken world. But so is joy. And we can fully enter into a season of grief without exiting the sphere of joy. Both can coexist.

So I learned a thing recently that took a bit of the wind out of my proverbial sails. I was informed that my beloved Jeep will not be an antique at 25 years. According to what I was able to find through very reliable sources a.k.a Google, a car is not considered antique until it is at least 45 years old.

The good news is that my car is over 20 years old, making it a classic. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this when my car actually passed that milestone, so I was unable to celebrate appropriately or even cheer quietly to myself in my car when the momentous event happened.

The good news is that my car may be old (if not antique), but it still runs and gets me to all the places I want to go every day. I think it still looks good and I still have fun driving it. I have less fun these days filling it up at gas stations, but I’m thankful that I have the means.

Plus, my red Jeep has become my unofficial trademark. People associate me more and more with my car, which is fine by me. And one day, when my speedometer ever gets fixed, I will hit 400,000 miles and then I can celebrate.

I think this prayer expresses the desire of my heart as we approach Easter season. May it be your prayer as well:

“O Lord, this holy season of Lent is passing quickly. I entered into it with fear, but also with great expectations. I hoped for a great breakthrough, a powerful conversion, a real change of heart; I wanted Easter to be a day so full of light that not even a trace of darkness would be left in my soul.

But I know that you do not come to your people with thunder and lightning. Even St. Paul and St. Francis journeyed through much darkness before they could see your light. Let me be thankful for your gentle way. I know you are at work. I know you will not leave me alone. I know you are quickening me for Easter – but in a way fitting to my own history and my own temperament.

I pray that these last three weeks, in which you invite me to enter more fully into the mystery of your passion, will bring me a greater desire to follow you on the way that you create for me and to accept the cross that you give to me. Let me die to the desire to choose my own way and select my own desire. You do not want to make me a hero but a servant who loves you.

Be with me tomorrow and in the days to come, and let me experience your gentle presence. Amen” (Henri Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee ).

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely” (Galatians 5:19-23, The Message).

If you’ve lived long enough, you probably know by now that God’s ways are always the best ways.

“A person who cares nothing for praise or blame knows great inward peace….Praise does not make you holier than you are, nor blame more wicked. You are exactly what you are, and cannot ever be any better or worse than that, in the eyes of God. Attend to what is really within you, then, and you will not care what others say of you. People look at externals, but God looks at the heart. They weigh actions; God knows your intent….To feel no need of human support and assurance is a mark of inward confidence – of those who truly walk with God in their hearts” (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ).

Ain’t that the truth. When you are free from the opinions of others and only care what God thinks about you, then you are truly free indeed. Then you no longer have to feel like you always need to defend or explain yourself or your actions. You no longer get upset when someone contradicts you. You no longer feel attacked when someone criticizes you.

To be sure, you don’t need to stand under abuse or abusive talk. You don’t have to stay in relationships where the other makes you feel small and trivial. But when you know your worth, then it ultimately doesn’t matter what anyone else says.

Those who are truly wise don’t mind being corrected. They always find a grain of truth in everything that is said to them, something that they can take away and take to heart. They know that who they are is not dependent on what others say but on what God has already said. They are the ones truly at peace.

This is very much a typical picture of Peanut. She’s usually reclined in a comfortable spot, covered by a blanket of some sort. She’s either getting ready to nap, napping, or just waking up from a nap. She leads a tough life.

Ahhh, the rewards of being small and cute. If you’re a cat, you get to do whatever you want whenever you want. All you do all day is eat and sleep. Plus people actually like you more if you are a bit on the plump side. And you never ever have to wake up early and drive a long way to work. I see no downside to any of that.

The only problem is that cats try to act tough and be thought of as ferocious, but it’s hard to scare people when you’re 10 pounds and fluffy. It’s hard to be intimidating when people keep picking you up and calling you nicknames like “Lil’ Kitty” and “Cutie Pie.” But then there are the naps and snacks, so I think I could put up with a lot for free food.

“O Great Lover of my soul, so captivate my senses that all I see is You, all I hear is Your voice and all I long to do is Your will. Make every breath a prayer, every thought a praise and every action an offering. Speak, O God, through my daily life so that everyone may know how You can turn ashes into beauty, dross into gold and something worthless into something priceless.”

“The practical problem about charity (in our prayers) is very hard work, isn’t it? When you pray for Hitler & Stalin, how do you actually teach yourself to make the prayer real? The two things that help me are (a) A continual grasp of the idea that one is only joining one’s feeble little voice to the perpetual intercession of Christ, who died for those very men (b) A recollection, as firm as one can make it, of all one’s own cruelty which might have blossomed, under different conditions, into something terrible. You and I are not, at bottom, so different from these ghastly creatures” (C. S. Lewis).

It’s one thing to pray for our enemies in theory, but quite different to pray for actual people in positions of leadership who are actively seeking to do us harm. Many of the Roman emperors during the early days of the Church were set on destroying Christianity in its infancy. Think of how many believers gave their lives during this time, yet their sacrifice was not in vain — Christianity took off like a wildfire (pun not intended).

In these days, it’s hard to pray for men like Putin who are not only aggressively invading other countries but also targeting civilians, hospitals, and maternity wards. How can you pray for those who seem like evil incarnate?

First of all, it’s helpful to remember that these men are also the ones that Jesus died for. They still bear the image of God and can be redeemed as much as anyone else. Remember the Apostle Paul was once the foremost enemy and persecutor of the Church.

Second, we must bear in mind that apart from the grace of God, there’s no telling how low we might have sunk. You or I, left to ourselves and given free rein, are capable of any and every kind of evil known to humankind. The only difference is that in our case, grace won.

So I’m praying for Putin. I’m praying that he will have a change of heart and pursue peace instead of war. I’m praying he will seek reconciliation and not violence. I’m even praying he will come to a saving faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. I’m not above praying that if he won’t back down from warmongering that he will be removed from office and that another will take his place.

Above all, I believe prayer works. Prayer is not the preamble to the battle. Prayer is the battle itself, and we will not see victory where we do not engage in prayer like our very lives depend on it.

I’ve been known to be wrong before, but I think that yesterday was the official first day of spring. Of course with this being Tennessee and Tennessee having the crazy weather that doesn’t always follow the rules, it could still snow tomorrow. Or next week. Or even in April. It’s been known to happen.

But for all intents and purposes, winter is over. As much as I loved seeing all the snow and feeling the keen crisp bite of wintry air, I’m ready for a new season. Even I can admit that having the same kind of weather all the time would get boring and old after a while. I imagine even constant sunny and mid 70s would wear thin after a while. Plus, with no rain at all, Tennessee would eventually become one big desert.

So I’ve learned to cherish all the seasons. Even when we get them all in one week. Each season has its own joys and rewards, even the super hot and the super cold. Having one season indefinitely would be nice for a little while, but for me not having changing seasons would grow tiresome. Even my favorite season Fall would eventually wear out its welcome with no green or new growth.

So I’m thankful for winter, spring, fall, and summer. I look forward to each one. But I’m sticking with fall as my favorite.

“Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. ‘Where have you put him?’ he asked them.

They told him, ‘Lord, come and see.’  Then Jesus wept (John 11:30-35, New Living Translation).

John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible. Or as I learned recently, it’s the shortest verse in English. But when you look at the context, why was Jesus weeping? It’s not like He didn’t know the outcome of the story. He knew very well He was about to resurrect Lazarus in short order, but still He wept. Why?

This question was put to a group of children once, and one of them answered in typical childlike fashion, “Because He lost His friend.”

Even though Jesus knew that Lazarus would soon be alive again, He saw the grief of those He loved. He saw the effects that sin and death had brought once again in a beautiful but broken world. So He wept.

I think when we lose loved ones, we do well to weep. Even though we know the final outcome — that those we love who have put their faith in Jesus will not stay dead but rise again healed and whole — we still miss them now. There’s still an empty chair at the table. There’s still an absent voice in the conversation. There’s still a void in your day to day life.

Grief is not wrong for those who follow Jesus. Even Jesus showed that it’s okay to be sad over the fact that the world is not as it was created to be since sin and death entered the world. Death is not natural, but as Jesus demonstrated first with Lazarus and then later with His own emergence from the tomb, death is not final. The grave will not have the last word.

So we grieve and weep, but with hope. We have sorrow, knowing that one day joy will prevail. We cry because we live in the now but not yet where everything we long for and hope for will be perfectly realized and Jesus will prevail.