“The Fog Is Lifting”

Sometimes when I wake in the morning, I find myself in a fog. I’m not quite sure where I am …. the remnant of a dream remains and the reality of a new day has not quite arrived. It takes a moment before reality sets in and I can begin my day. 

Have you ever been moving thru fog, maybe in a car or while flying? You can’t quite see what’s ahead… but at some point it begins to thin and reality arrives…truth arrives…. the sun appears and the blue sky. 

Here we are today…it’s Holy Saturday. The fog is still present, you just can’t really see. You know the sun is there, but it’s just not visible. You hear rumors of healing and victory …. but.  It seems that life can often be lived in this time between the darkness and the life, between the sickness and the healing, between the defeat and the victory. Faith tells us that Christ will have the last word, that our hopes and dreams are coming, but it’s not quite there… there’s still the fog.

It’s during this time that we need to keep moving forward. We need to put one foot in front of the other. We need to not quit…. victory is just around the corner. We’re at the 26 mile marker of the marathon and the finish line is coming into sight. We don’t seem to have the strength to keep going, but then we notice that victory is coming into view… and we notice that someone is running at our side, encouraging us, smiling at us, reminding us that victory is coming , that the fog is thinning. We suddenly recognize that face, that look of love and joy and confidence….it’s the Lord.

In the “”Ancient Homily of Holy Saturday”, we read “ ‘I am your God… out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.”

May this be a word for you and me, “I order you, O sleeper, to awake… rise up, work of my hands”. The fog is lifting, victory is at hand; for those who have been living in darkness, the sun is rising. Put your faith and trust in the Lord . He will  have the last word. Jesus, it’s our time, raise us up to new life. Happy Easter.