Overlooking the Savior

I’ve been challenged this year to remember, to dig deep into all of Easter and to not overlook any part of the story, to not fall into overlooking the Savior.

Quite often, it’s easy for me to overlook parts of the story.

I don’t like the blood and gore of the beatings. I deeply feel the pain and loneliness of the cross. I hurt in the sad, dark parts of the story when Jesus cries out, Mary weeps and the disciples wonder what happened to Jesus.

To put it in context, I don’t like violent movies or TV shows that are full of crime, blood, pain or fear. I don’t read books that keep me up at night with gory images of torture or murder. I tend to stick to Hallmark-type stories as much as possible.

Because of those things, I tend to overlook large chunks of Easter week.

It isn’t that I don’t believe it or that I’m ungrateful for what Jesus did on the cross that long ago day. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the cost or understand the sacrifice. It isn’t that I don’t love Him more for what He went through.

It’s that I would rather focus on Sunday, the happy part, the picture of the Risen Lord!

Wouldn’t you?

He is Risen! The grave is empty! Do not fear… Jesus is alive!

Yep. Way better than, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

In our world, with so much darkness, terror, death, sickness, hurting and grief happening around us, focusing on the happy parts of the story is a much better personal option.

Yet, when we focus only on the happy parts, we overlook the great testimony of what brought the happy part in the first place.

We overlook the cross and what it means.

We’re overlooking our Savior.

I took this picture of Abby in April 2010 and in my remembering this morning, I thought about the message it brought. It was Easter time and spring was just making the days warm and the flowers bloom.

We spent a day at the park and as always, I took a ton of pictures.

This was one of them.

If I remember right, Jeremy and the girls were playing a game with sticks floating in the water. They were wading in over the rocks and looking for crawdads. They were just enjoying nature while I snapped picture after picture.

As I was editing and cropping and sorting pictures from our family adventure, I noticed something in the water of this picture.

Do you see it?

It’s a cross and I’d overlooked it during our play.

I was so busy snapping pictures and enjoying the fun that I missed the cross in the background.

As I sat there staring at my computer screen, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, “You do this each year. You see everything else. You miss something deep that I want to share with you. You overlook your Savior by not really seeing what happened on the cross.”

This year, God is challenging me to again remember. To look deeply. To feel. To truly understand and grasp the whole story, not just the happy part.

To look and see the Savior, the cross. He’s asking me to stop overlooking a large portion of what He did and miss the precious gift of remembering.

In remembering, we allow ourselves to feel, with full force, the gift we have been giving because of what happened on the cross.

In remembering, we allow our hearts to see the full picture of our Savior.

What a precious picture this Easter weekend. Thank You, Lord, for the cross.

Thank you for the challenge to remember and fully see you, the price you paid and the gift we have been given.

Do you see the cross? Or, like me, do you tend to overlook parts of the story?

Have you ever found yourself overlooking the Savior?