My friend Cherie lived at the far end of Pop Pop’s garden. Farther down the lane lived a dog named Chipper, who always came running when he heard us playing. He’d trot down the center of the road on his short legs—one could see him coming for days—and then down Cherie’s driveway.  “It’s just Chipper, Jennie!” Cherie would say,  “He doesn’t bite–he’s friendly!” But up I’d go, into the mimosa tree that hung over Pop Pop’s row of boxwood. And while Chipper and Cherie greeted each other with hugs and kisses, wags and licks, I was leaning against a branch, high in the generous sheltering tree, tickling my nose with a bouquet of sweet pink silk.

Who could understand why a young girl would run from a happy little dog? I still don’t. As a child, I felt odd and peculiar when anxiousness pulled me away from normal, reasonable situations. I still do. And I still think of Cherie’s tree and Chipper, the comfort and the bewilderment, when I see a mimosa. With no tools or insight to wield against fear, all I could do was hide. Now I turn to Jesus. He is merciful when I call upon Him. With Him there is no confusion, only composure and clarity.

Looking back, I spent a lot of time at the top of trees, climbing high in hay lofts, suspended on the highest rung of my rope ladder, the others gathered up in my clutching arms. I even walked on the roof outside my bedroom window. What I was seeking there above dogs, above fears, above confusion, I one day found in God. He is above and at once within me, His child, His creation. In His omniscience and love, I am grounded.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  Philemon 1:25

 

Jesus walked the earth for forty days after His resurrection, appearing before the disciples, Mary Magdalene and others, showing them miracles and evidence that He was living. He met these witnesses in their fear, confusion and grief and His return changed them forever. 

A man named Cleopus and his companion were caught unaware when Jesus came alongside them on the road to Emmaus.  They were downcast, focused on the events of His death and their apparent loss. Jesus kept them from recognizing Him while He spoke to them all the Scriptures that told of the Savior. “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart  to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 

The men were encouraged. The Word reminded them of the hope they had felt in Jesus. They pleaded with the stranger to stay at their home that night, to continue to stoke the fire of their faith. At dinner, this stranger gave thanks and broke bread and Cleopus and his friend saw it was Jesus as they received it. The Savior then disappeared, leaving the Truth to live on forever.

That is Jesus. Once a child of God comes to know she is one through Him, grief and fear and confusion have no lingering place in her heart. Jesus supplants these with the hope, peace and joy that comes only from His resurrection, His permanent place of mercy and grace in her life. I am called to walk as the child of God I am and to set my heart on those things above.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2