Here's a thought for the weekend:
Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”–Luke 23:28-31
They are singing, all around me,
Blithely of
A cross that is old and rugged.
I am speechless, songless,
Stunned by a thought I can hardly bear:
What if the wood were new,
And His blood mingled with
The sap of that tree
Which itself was alive the day before,
Each one dying
For the other
(c) 2000 Latayne C. Scott
The interconnection of Christ with the world He'd created should never be taken lightly. He told us that no sparrow, no flower of the field (and by extension, no created thing) is beyond His notice. His sacrifice for us didn't cost only Him–the earthquakes at His death, the anguish of the Roman soldier who watched, the despair of the disciples–all mourned for Him. And even though we know He's risen, we too must mourn for the sin that put Him on that cross.
