This Sacred Moment

It's a long, slow, slough through these days leading up to Resurrection Sunday, and I often find myself wishing for it all to be over--wanting to rush through it all to get to Easter morning and cries of "He is risen!"  

It's tempting to wish your life away when you feel strongly that on the other side of whatever is happening in the moment is something greater, bigger and more extraordinary than your ordinary now.  

Just then, as I wrote that last line a song by the country group Alabama went through my head:  

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die

But I'm in a hurry and don't know why.

I'm not sure that I completely agree with the notion that all I "gotta do is live and die," but there's a lot of truth in that little chorus.  When we get in a hurry to rush through to the next big thing, we can easily lose sight of the extraordinary in the ordinary.  

In one of my Lenten devotions this morning, I read the following bit of wisdom from Albert Haase: 

"To be attentive only to the dramatic is to potentially miss other ways that God issues a call or reveals a required duty or unmet need in this sacred moment."

There is so much glory to be found on the Lenten path.  But we can easily miss the glorious moments when we use all our energy to avoid the journey, sidestep anything that resembles suffering, or rush through the beautiful, quiet moments of longing and waiting. 

Rest by the road today in your Lenten journey.  Look around you and take in all that God is doing in this moment, right now.  Pay attention to the glory of the Lord in the ordinary events of your day today.  Don't miss it.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.