A Very Good Friday

April 06, 2012

A Very Good Friday

My tulips, wearing white for Easter weekend.

Today is Good Friday. The day we remember that greatest sacrifice, that act of love, which worked to save the souls of God’s fallen children from their sins. Today the Word, God made flesh, died. He gave Himself up to death to give us life.

I am reminded of the words written by Isaac Watts,

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small:

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

On this Good Friday we truly feel the sorrow and love mingle.

Today is our sweet Grayson Wayne’s birthday.

On this day set aside to look back and remember the death of Christ, we look back and remember the sound of our son’s first breath of life. Good Friday is rightly an opportunity to allow the gravity of what Christ gave to us on the cross sink in and move us to tears. But in that death was a victory. That death overcame death. It gave life eternal.

Martin Luther wrote,

It was a strange and dreadful strife when Life and Death contended;

The victory remained with Life, the reign of Death was ended;

Holy Scripture plainly saith that Death is swallowed up by Death,

His sting is lost forever. Hallelujah!

We rejoice in the year of life God has given our baby Gray. What a blessing he has been! He crawls around at breakneck speeds, grunting and laughing all the way. His smile is scattered with the oddest arrangement of baby teeth you’ve ever seen, and he eats as much as a grown adult (and will let you know if you’re not feeding him fast enough with a rather loud exclamation point!). He wants to play with whatever his brother is playing with, is very good at sneaking up the stairs, cries when his daddy leaves for school, and is generous with his big, open-mouth, slobbery kisses. I can’t help but smile just thinking about him! We’re looking forward to seeing what is to come in the following years! We’ve so enjoyed getting to know this little bundle of boy.