Saturday Derailed
I had dreamed BIG plans for today. This is my first year of trying to establish some family traditions for Easter (Celebrating Easter).- 9am: Family Pancake Breakfast- 9.30am: Baby's nap- 11am: Easter Egg Hunt, Lunch and other Easter fun at our local Mall- 1pm: Kids nap and hubby chill at home while I have a coffee date with one of my best friends- 3pm: Family Easter preparations: cooking and decorating for Sunday- 6.30pm: Fun dinner- 7.30pm: Kids to bed- 8pm: Movie at home date nightDoesn't that sound like a great Easter Saturday?!Then two big hiccups happened.First, I forgot that my amazing and gifted husband was on the Easter set-up team. He had to be at church at 8.30 this morning and will be home around lunch time. He'll be home around lunch time and then he has to go back at 8pm tonight.Strike out: Family Breakfast, Family Easter Fun and Date night. But, no worries. I am a good "Adapter" (StrengthFinders). The kids and I can still do everything without him. Not as great but still good.Second hiccup: Sick daughter. Out of now where she has a terrible cough and a fever. The fever had broken yesterday afternoon and she had lots of energy for our Good Friday dinner with friends. During the night the fever returned and is still with us 10 hours later.Strike out: Pretty much everything else. It's 11am. The Baby is refusing to take a morning nap, the sweet sicky is asleep on the couch, and instead of having Easter fun at the Mall I'm blogging about what should have been.And now that I think about it: it's actually the perfect way to spend Easter Saturday. I'm getting a small (ok, tiny) taste of what the disciples and followers of Jesus felt on this Saturday.They had huge dreams in their hearts about the kind of future the Messiah was going to bring them.But Friday had ruined everything.Peter probably was feeling like a disgusting failure: as he remembered over and over how he denied his Jesus. The disciples must have had a million questions: Did they really see all those miracles? Was Jesus a fraud? What would they do now? The redeemed women may have wondered where they would go without this community of followers to be with... back to prostitution?For years they had followed Jesus. On Friday Jesus died. Then came a Saturday of no Jesus. A derailed, hiccupped, hijacked Saturday.
...it was the Sabbath, so they rested all that day as required by the law (Luke 23:56b)
And so they "rested". This is the Hebrew word hesuchazo which means: to keep quiet; to rest, cease from labour; to lead a quiet life, said of those who are not running hither and thither, but stay at home and mind their business; to be silent.That Sabbath day would have been quite unique for those Jesus followers. Prior to Jesus, Sabbath was a way to earn salvation. With Jesus, Sabbath was a day to be with Jesus. Now they were doing Sabbath without Jesus but in a whole new light.So that's what I'm doing today too. Considering my Easter Saturday in a whole new light. Considering the heart journey of the disciples that day. And choosing to rest, not running hither and thither. I'm so happy to say that I think I've found a new Easter Saturday tradition.How is your Easter weekend? Have some plans? Discover something new?