Caught between the end and the beginning

I’ve always been fascinated with the day between what the Christian faith calls Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.  Saturday is the “odd man out.”  The day without a special name, with no significant meaning.  Friday has the sacrificial death of Christ for sinners and Sunday has His glorious resurrection in victory over death and the grave.  Saturday, it would seem, has nothing.  But I think it may have more than we realize…

I think it’s a day that many of us can relate to.  A day that feels suspended, stuck.  A day that is partly cloudy and partly sunny.  A day filled with doubt and hope, when our emotions run the gamut and toss us like rag dolls.

It is the day after what felt like the end, and the day before what we hope to be the beginning. It is the day that we are alone with our thoughts, our emotions, and the broken pieces of a heart that had believed with everything it had in something – or someone – that died yesterday.

Saturday is a suspension bridge between the end and the beginning.

This is the day when things happen in us which must happen privately in order for them to be revealed publicly.  What Jesus was doing on this day as He was between His death and resurrection has been debated by wise scholars for centuries, but one thing is clear: He was doing something.  Jesus didn’t spend Saturday sitting in the tomb twiddling His resurrecting thumbs waiting for the angel to move the stone.  It was a day of hidden activity, when the seed that had fallen into the ground was growing under the ground so that it could burst out of the ground.

For you and me, this day represents the time we spend in preparation of the beginning.  The beginnings are different for us all – perhaps the launch of a new business, the first day on a new job, the wedding day of a couple in love, or the re-enrollment in college for another degree – but the principle of preparation is consistent.  You get ready on Saturday, because you know that Sunday is coming.

Maybe you feel stuck, like your entire life is on hold.  You’re waiting, wrestling, wondering.  Perhaps you need to hear the message of Saturday, and know that whatever ended for you in the past does not define what you will be when your life begins again.  You were made for God’s glory, and He is working in you, behind the scenes, preparing you for a new day when the broken pieces of Friday will fall into place on Sunday.

And it all happens on the day when we feel caught between the end and the beginning.

What is God preparing you for?

What areas of your life need to be developed more in order for your new beginning to be successful?

How can you take advantage of the time spent waiting?

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