Hairs on Our Head . . . Really?

Day One - Living as People of the Resurrection

He is Risen. Three simple words burnt onto a small wooden cross. Each of us got one, even Asa. He might have been the most excited of all of us.

As a part of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, WI we are being challenged to LIVE as though we are people of the resurrection. Our pastors are taking extra special attention to remind and teach us about the gift of "being born" into this family and receiving the legacy that is life in and with Christ who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

So the Tarjeson's also take this challenge on. With Big D leading our family in devotions each night, we have recommitted to making our lives look more like the one who gave it all for us. It's a bit intimidating actually. I am sure we will fail, but we pursue it anyway.

So yesterday the Tarjeson family stuck those crosses in our pockets and fished them back out after evening devotions. We looked at them . . . real close. Each of us decided what was unique about our crosses. Colby's cross had freckles. . . just like the ones he seemed to sprout over a week at Grandma T's house. Asa's was lighter in color and the cross in the center nearly touched the side of the wood. Paige (a ray of sunshine herself) had a cross with a spot that seemed like the sun rising over Calgary ,as if to hint at a promise to come. Big D had a litte chip out of one side of his cross, almost too small to notice; but if you looked closely (as our Savior surely does) you can see that it is not perfect. My cross, which I am very partial to already, has beautiful streaks of wooden grain in it; as though tears have rolled down it, making it beautiful but already worn.

We used these unique differences to talk about how, although it may seem that God couldn't possibly notice what we need or want, he knows each of us by heart. If WE can tell the difference between these crosses, which seem to be all the same, how amazing is he that he knows us. Not even just those things that are visable either. Colby is in awe that God knows every word he is going to say, even before he is gonna say it. I am in awe that God, not only knows my hearts desires, but he knows which of those desires are best to bless me with and how to bless me by denying these desires as well.

As the kids left for school this morning we read the Cross In My Pocket poem. We may have to reread it each day, but as I hand out each child's cross I say a prayer that this child will know that they are special, unique and cherished. They are cherished by their mother, but more importantly by a Savior who knows them more intimately. A Savior who knows the very hairs on our head (Luke 12:7), no matter how messy they are. They each get to have their own relationship with he who loves, died, and is risen. We aren't always pretty but we are . . . a family of the resurrection.