As I cycle to work
along the Tow Path
I’m deeply conscious
that this is Holy Week.

This is a beautiful spring day,
a day of birdsong and blossom,
sunshine and still waters –
a day to take life slowly.

As I reach my usual stopping point,
where I can watch the bending river
stretch out on either side of me,
I am thinking about the Passion of Jesus
who died for me
and was tortured to death for me.
I am conscious of the suffering
that Jesus endured for me –
excruciating pain,
humiliation,
exhaustion,
betrayal.

Yet, as I ponder the depths of Jesus’s suffering,
I sense that I am surrounded
by the love of My God
and that My God is inviting me today
to think about why Jesus died for me
instead of how Jesus died for me.

Today My God is inviting me
to contemplate love.

© Claire Murray, 14 April 2014