Garden encounters, part 2

It was my turn to plan prayer meeting this morning, so I went back to John 20, looking for a tie-in with the holiday weekend . . . And it was like looking into a mirror.  If you know me you can imagine me as Mary, weeping (doing quite a bit of that lately remembering Jonah, remembering my Dad who died on Easter night two years ago), up early, and ready to approach the men who may have moved the body and fix the problem.  Oblivious to the holy moment, single-mindedly looking for a solution, ready to work, missing the point.  Lord have mercy.  He does.  My prayer was to see Jesus, to be settled by His call, to lay aside my ideas for making things right and go and be faithful to His sending.  At least that was my early morning prayer.  By 9 am I’m afraid I was once again ready to accuse angels of treason and ignore the voice of the Lord in my wrestling with the mess of this life.  But I take heart in my kinship with Mary, and the patience of Jesus.