Monthly Archives: March 2016

His Blood Shed at Gethsemane

His blood shed

“By His Blood” (Detail), colored pencil drawing by Felecia R. Weber, OntheWingofaDove.com

His blood shed at Gethsemane – such a heavy weight Christ carried in knowing what was to be…

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”  Luke 22:44

His Blood Shed at Gethsemane

His blood shed at Gethsemane

What it demonstrated to me,

Not the loneliness wrought by betrayal,

Nor the tortuous suffering at Calvary.

His blood shed at Gethsemane

It revealed something much deeper than that,

For there is no greater suffering, no other loss that can compare.

Yet, because of God’s deep love for us, His only Son’s life He did not spare.

His blood shed at Gethsemane

Such a heavy weight Christ carried in knowing what was to be;

The agony that stood before Him; the decision that He alone did make.

I praise Him and eternally thank Him, for the gift of salvation He made possible for you and me.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me.’…”  Matthew 26:36-46

It always touches my heart intently when I think of the grief and agony that Jesus suffered that night in the garden called Gethsemane.  Can you imagine it?  He not only had to deal with the fact that He had already been so wrongly betrayed, but He also knew that those followers of whom He had lead and loved so intimately and for so long, appeared only to have a vague understanding of what this incredible night was to hold for them in the immediate future.  His love for them and the entire undeserving world was so great, yet He knew that what He must do would be more than He, at least in His humanness, seemingly could bear.

But wait, there is more…the thing that caused His greatest anguish is something that we cannot even comprehend.  For Jesus knew that in order to make that deep love for all of us who have ever lived, and those who will come after us, be real and to free us in a way that nothing else could do…He had to make a decision that would lead Him to a place where only He could go.

I imagine we’ve all experienced, to some degree, the destitution of feeling completely alone.  With nowhere , or no one to turn to.  A place where no light shines and where all hope seems to have slipped through our fingers.  Where when we cry out for help, all we hear is silence, or worse yet, only the echo of our own tear-strained voice.  A place that is void of all that is good, and the vibrancy of life and joy.  Now try to fathom that feeling to be a million times greater and real.  Even then we cannot come close to where Jesus was to go.  For He would be completely separated from God the Father and God would turn His back on His beloved Son.  There would be no response from God to Jesus’ cries to Him.  His desperate tears would fall silently and God would not hear.

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:39

For me, His blood shed at Gethsemane symbolizes the level of intensity of how much Jesus’ love is for us.  That, although He pleaded with God the Father to take that utterly bitter cup from Him, He chose to take it on, for our sake. Indeed, there is no greater love than that.

May you take the time today, Maundy Thursday, to ponder the decision that Jesus made on that agonizing night He spent in the garden called Gethsemane, and may it move you to take a step of faith and place your trust, your life in Him, who is the Light and the Life.

Peace and love,

Felecia

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A Hunger Within Us

hunger within us

“No Ordinary Rose,” Photograph by Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

There is a hunger within us that is not easily satisfied.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”  Mother Theresa

A Hunger Within Us

There is a hunger within us that is not easily satisfied.

Sometimes we don’t even know it’s there,

For so deeply inside of us doth it reside.

Ah, but when it gnaws on us, and takes our breath away,

We’ve no choice but to face it, for a hunger so fierce, we cannot betray.

There is a hunger within us, it has no voice, nor a face,

But the heaviness, the weight of it, can drag us down to a lonely place.

No, we can’t ignore it, it must be fed if we are to survive.

For it is more essential than food and water; we must have it to stay alive.

There is a hunger within us, that once fed satisfies every need, every desire.

It sustains us as though our hearts are set ablaze with an unquenchable fire.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

What do you hunger for the most?  I believe that we all crave something that satisfies more deeply than food and water…and that is our need to be loved, to be cared for, to feel as though we matter.  Deny it all we want, but to love and to be loved is the most basic and essential requirement that we all have.  Sometimes it takes a long time to realize it, but it’s true.  Just the thought of it can be scary, for I believe that there is nothing that causes more pain and joy than love.  And, I suppose therein lies the beauty of it.

May you never go hungry when it comes to fulfilling your desire, your necessity for loving and being loved…and may you flourish because that hunger within you is being fully fed.

Peace and love,

Felecia

 

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On Healing

On Healing

healingA Quote to Carry You

March 7, 2016

“If Nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is full, and you can give things out of that.” Frances Hodgson Burnett

On healing – Although we’ve had a very mild winter this year, it seems like cold and flu season is in full force right now.  So many people in my circle have been suffering from the sniffles, coughs, and the general “blahs” that go along with it.  When I think of all the medications that promise fast relief, it makes me think of how, if given the opportunity, the human body is well equipped to bring about physical healing on its own.  To take that marvelous ability even deeper, I can’t help but think of how amazing God has provided for healing of the heart…and the way it, in turn illuminates our very souls.

Thankfully, I have not succumbed to the cold germs floating around in the air, but I’ve become well acquainted with ailments of the heart, and I’ve discovered that the remedy for those types of maladies cannot be bought.  For me, that kind of healing begins, not when I take something to remove the discomfort of pain, rather, it happens when I give something…then I receive the healing I need.

It is so easy to get caught up with ourselves, trying to filler fix the areas of our lives that are empty or hurting.  Like taking medications for fast relief of our physical discomforts, we so often try desperately to satisfy what it is that we lack deep down inside.  It is not an easy task…and how we go about gratifying ourselves sometimes has the opposite effect.  It seems to me that the solution is more fully attained when we forget about what we lack and focus on what we have.  For it is then that we realize that what is missing from our lives doesn’t matter as much as what we have to offer to others.  Then we find that we do not lack anything at all…but we have everything…to give.

The healing power of giving has certainly been demonstrated in my own life.  It is true; when I concern myself with giving what I have to others, and there are so many ways that I have been blessed to do so, not only has healing happened at my heart level…it spills over into every aspect of my world.  For is there really anything that we possess that is worth having if we don’t share it with those around us?

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

Peace and love,

Felecia

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