Stuck

Written by Debbie West

Take today’s next step: Take the 35 Day Challenge and get unstuck.

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13)

When my niece Caroline was almost two years old, I took her to the mall to run an errand for her mom. While we were there, we went to the indoor playground. It was a closed-in area for preschoolers. I sat among parents who watched their children crawl through and climb over the pint-sized obstacle course.

At one point I realized that I couldn’t see Caroline, so I stood and began walking toward the other end of the play area. I hadn’t taken two steps when I heard a child’s loud cry. Sure enough, it was Caroline. Another dad was holding her, scanning the play area to find the parent. I reached out and took her from him. “She stuck her head in one of the shoe cubbies and couldn’t get out,” he told me. “I don’t think she’s hurt but it scared her.”

Why the Tears?

"Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?'"  John 20:15

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, she met the resurrected Christ in the garden.  She did not know it was Jesus because her eyes were filled with tears, and she was preoccupied with her deep hurt and utter despair.

Her hopes and dreams had crashed and burned as she saw Jesus beaten and crucified.  Her Lord and Savior was now dead.  How could that be?  Wasn’t He the Messiah?  And to add insult to injury, someone had even taken His body from the tomb.  It couldn’t get any more heartbreaking for Mary.     

And in her profound state of grief, Jesus asks her this simple but probing question, “Why are you weeping?”