You have probably heard the statement, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.”
The opening of windows is something I associate with summertime filled with warm breezes and long sun soaked days. Open windows are something that is hard to remember in the cold and gray of mid-winter in western NY, but their image is one that I’ve been thinking a great deal about.
A few weeks ago I walked into a dance studio to try out a new exercise class that was being offered by the YMCA. It’s called “World Jam” and it features music and integrates dance styles from around the world. I tried the class to continue my efforts in physical activity even through the winter season and found that this class is a great deal of fun. At the end of the class, the group was doing the cool down stretches and at that moment I looked up to the ceiling and was taken aback to see unexpected sky lights above me. Had I not tried the new class and looked up, I would have missed the windows that were right above me all along.
God’s presence is like unexpected windows sometimes. It’s easy to forget the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples at the end of Matthew and Mark, but I think these words are a source of unexpected light and hope.
Matthew 28 16-20 /The Great Commission
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
At the end of Matthew and Mark, Jesus reminds the disciples that he is with them to the end of the age. At the conclusion of Luke, Jesus reminds the disciples immediately before he ascends to heaven that, “I am going to send what my Father has promised”. In the conclusion of John’s gospel (20 :21), Jesus says: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus words promise his followers the continual and unending presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathes upon the disciples as a means of giving them the Holy Spirit. The words and actions of Jesus in the scriptures can be like an unexpected open window blowing a refreshing summer breeze into our lives.
Seeing the skylight above me that morning was Jesus way of reminding me of his presence with me, so since then, I’ve begun to ask some questions:
“Where am I experiencing Jesus?” “What situations do I see Jesus working in?”
It is in asking ourselves questions like this that we begin to take notice of the ways God is living alongside of us. We need to become better, “noticer’s”.
It is true that when God closes a door, He opens a window, but sometime we need to have the eyes to see the open windows, or we have to have the faith to open the few things that we are able to reach. Just like the disciples, we need to be reminded that Jesus is with us. That promise is like opening a window to a summer breeze in the middle of February, unexpected but greatly welcomed.
The opening of windows is something I associate with summertime filled with warm breezes and long sun soaked days. Open windows are something that is hard to remember in the cold and gray of mid-winter in western NY, but their image is one that I’ve been thinking a great deal about.
A few weeks ago I walked into a dance studio to try out a new exercise class that was being offered by the YMCA. It’s called “World Jam” and it features music and integrates dance styles from around the world. I tried the class to continue my efforts in physical activity even through the winter season and found that this class is a great deal of fun. At the end of the class, the group was doing the cool down stretches and at that moment I looked up to the ceiling and was taken aback to see unexpected sky lights above me. Had I not tried the new class and looked up, I would have missed the windows that were right above me all along.
God’s presence is like unexpected windows sometimes. It’s easy to forget the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples at the end of Matthew and Mark, but I think these words are a source of unexpected light and hope.
Matthew 28 16-20 /The Great Commission
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
At the end of Matthew and Mark, Jesus reminds the disciples that he is with them to the end of the age. At the conclusion of Luke, Jesus reminds the disciples immediately before he ascends to heaven that, “I am going to send what my Father has promised”. In the conclusion of John’s gospel (20 :21), Jesus says: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus words promise his followers the continual and unending presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathes upon the disciples as a means of giving them the Holy Spirit. The words and actions of Jesus in the scriptures can be like an unexpected open window blowing a refreshing summer breeze into our lives.
Seeing the skylight above me that morning was Jesus way of reminding me of his presence with me, so since then, I’ve begun to ask some questions:
“Where am I experiencing Jesus?” “What situations do I see Jesus working in?”
It is in asking ourselves questions like this that we begin to take notice of the ways God is living alongside of us. We need to become better, “noticer’s”.
It is true that when God closes a door, He opens a window, but sometime we need to have the eyes to see the open windows, or we have to have the faith to open the few things that we are able to reach. Just like the disciples, we need to be reminded that Jesus is with us. That promise is like opening a window to a summer breeze in the middle of February, unexpected but greatly welcomed.
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