Woe is Me and It’s all Mine
Skipped to the park one day
While Jimmy-Gimme tagged along
To demand his right to play
And they all laughed how Sister Faith
Agreed to stay at home
To mop the floor and wash the plates
So, they left her there alone
First Jimmy climbed up on the swing
“Gimme a push!” he cried.
But Me and Mine ignored Him and
Went whooshing down the slide
Till strutted up IKnow-it-All
With Big Bro Mockery
Along with Violence sliding in
Each smiling wickedly
The sisters shook in dread but then
Sweet Faith rushed to the scene
And without fear went toe to toe
And stood there in between
She looked into his eyes until
Mockery slunk away
Soon followed byI Know-it-All
Yet Violence chose to stay
Then from a sheath he drew His blade
But Faith spoke quietly
Your weapon will not work today
Our Father protects me
So Violence just shrugged and said
"I’ll be back." and off he paced
Then Little Jimmy ran and threw
His arms ‘round sister’s waist
While Me and Mine each took Faith’s arms
With smiles that come from Heaven
To see their family all restored
With Faith all sins forgiven!
A Family Restored by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2022
All rights reserved
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1 ESV
Some of you have noticed that I love to write devotionals. The truth is I also love to read devotional collections. Oswald Chambers, Joni Eareckson Tada, Charles Swindoll and Rick Warren have become friends whose example and teachings have encouraged me through some of the darkest times of my life. About a month ago, my wife, knowing my love of devotional writing brought me home a Beverly Lewis book titled, “Amish Prayers.” In it the author has compiled a selection of prayers translated from a German prayer book dating back to 1708. What a special blessing this little book has become to me!
The book, “Amish Prayers” in many ways reminded me of the book of Psalms. Then as I looked closely, I discovered that the Psalms are as much a book of prayers as an ancient Hebrew collection of hymns. That inspired me to begin looking through the Bible for other prayers and I discovered them everywhere! In fact, the Bible could just as well be called, God’s Prayer Book, because at the heart of the stories of the men and women of scripture is the heritage of their prayers. Some of those prayers are questions, some complaints, some cries for mercy and others simply times of praise. If you will join me, over the next week we are going to listen in to a few of those prayers and then bow our heads and pray along with them!
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. John 19:41-41
What better day to end this series on the Sabbath than Holy Saturday? This morning I began revising this post from last month, and I recalled that my wife and I used to sing a song titled, “The Little Boy From the Carpenter Shop” that went in depth on the subject. (I posted a link below if you want to listen) I loved that singing that song, but now I wonder how accurate its interpretation was of what Jesus was doing between his death on the Cross and Resurrection Sunday. In fact, I wonder how anyone knows exactly what occurred after Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus rolled the stone over the door to the tomb? What if on the day that serves as the hinge between the Old Testament and New – what if Jesus simply rested? What if when Jesus said, “It is finished!” and gave His spirit into his father’s hands He had one day without sorrow, suffering or demands of any kind? What if after three and a half years of ministry, in which it was said that he had nowhere to lay his head and scarcely time to eat, that Jesus just rested in His Father’s ability to do all that needed to be done for the day?
What if Jesus rested because it was the Sabbath? What if on the same day on which the creation of heaven and earth was completed, Jesus just paused to see everything that was good in the new creation now begun? What if there are times in our own lives when there is nothing more holy that we can do than nothing? What if on this Holy Saturday we quietly reflected and rested in the completed work of Jesus Christ? The Apostle James told us that we could see His faith by his works; however, it is equally true that there are times our faith is by shown by what we choose not to do. Just as by faith we die with Christ and are raised by Christ, there are also times when by faith He calls us to rest in Him and with all our hearts trust God to do the rest!
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