Mile 5: Burning Hearts

Family,

It is not an altogether uncommon experience in our home for someone to shout out to another person asking where something is. The irony of this is that, often, the person seeking what they cannot find is positioned directly in front of the “missing” item. The one called walks in and quickly grabs the item and hands it to them. Now, say it with me if you can hear it reverberate in your own head:
“How did I miss that?”

That’s where we find ourselves this week in the walk to Emmaus with Cleopas and his companion, asking ourselves how did they miss that it was Jesus walking with them? Certainly, you or I would have immediately recognized our Lord and Savior. There is no doubt that we would have been overwhelmed by God’s presence and stopped everything we were doing. Right?

Hindsight is 20/20, the saying goes, but often in the midst of grief and the feeling of being lost in an unexpected overturn of how we expected life to be, we see very dimly. We cling to what is familiar and let go of the hope Jesus provides in his resurrection. We retreat to our protective shells and pull the stone back over the covering of our tombs.

This week I invite you to look for Jesus in your ordinary. The greatest reality is that Jesus has never left us, and even when we walk down dusty roads after great loss, our Messiah lives.

Kathleen Hudson