Author: Amanda Viviers

Have you ever walked into a room and realised that there is someone in it, who you really don’t want to see?

I have.

You know when you walk down the aisle in the supermarket and someone walks towards you, causing a quick reflex, duck for cover action…

I have.

When I walked through the crowd at church and I see someone that I really don’t want to have ‘that’ conversation with.

I have.

We all deny our knowledge of people at some point in time. Hoping not to have an awkward conversation, hoping not to be included in their drama, hoping to be spared somewhat the anxiety.

We all have done it.

But what if that someone was about to be punished for a crime they didn’t commit?

What if that someone was one of your closest friends that you had spent time with every day of the last few years?

That is the beginning of the real story of Easter.

It begun with denial.

It begun with people closest to the patriarch of the story, it began with those who loved Him. It began steeped in deep betrayal, of those closest.

The walk towards Calvary, began with his closest friends denying that they knew Him.

Peter Denies Jesus

54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:54-62 (ESV)

How awkward.

How difficult.

How terribly shameful.

We have all done things that we are ashamed of. We have all had moments, when we know that we need to address something or someone and we have averted our eyes. We have all had times when we wished we had spoken up for someone and didn’t.

We are often plagued by denial because it is such a passive emotion. Easily argued away by the voices in our heads and excuses in our hearts.

It doesn’t change the way it alters us.

The only way we can move past denial, is admitting we have been wrong and asking forgiveness.

This forgiveness often is most difficult in applying it to ourselves.

I want to be someone who faces those difficult times in my life and truly, authentically, even when it is terribly awkward tells the truth.

How about you?

 

 

 

Come and join our creative #inspire15 journey and follow these April Prompts to do something creative this month. I will be highlighting and profiling some of the amazing work that people are producing as a part of this journey.

The days have been getting shorter and the sleep ins more plentiful. Autumn has bought with it a sense of peace and openness in my little seaside shack.

I have been thinking about the word open, as I have click clacked away with my muse, knitting chunky cardigans for my family this winter.

In a world where so many of our secrets are exposed extravagantly online, it is okay I think to have private moments that remain between those dearest.

Those private moments don’t necessarily need to bad things…

They can be;

unfolding situations

new opportunities

vulnerable seasons

As much as I believe this is true, it is easy as well to stay stuck in a closed place. Where the person we present to the world, is completely different to the person we truly are.

Would you call yourself open-hearted?

I know that there have been disappointed seasons when I haven’t been this at all. Where I have done everything I can to hide truly who I am, because I have been so hurt by people, betrayed, let down, disappointed, living often with unforgiveness.

I remember those times.

I remember those places.

They were difficult seasons.

What if you tried though, despite the loss to live a little more openly?

with your friends

with your children

with your closest.

okay with imperfection

undone by your mistakes

open.

What if closing down, wasn’t our response to difficult situations?

Where the walls shoot up, walls that are difficult to be scaled by anyone.

Sitting inside that safe place hoping the giants don’t then try to climb down the beanstalk, from the heights you have hidden them.

What does it mean to live openly?

Opening our hearts and starting conversations that matter, even when they are awkward.

Opening our hands and sharing our possessions, with our neighbours, our hair dressers, our cafe baristas.

Opening our houses as opportunities of restoration to those who feel a little rejected.

Does that mean our lives are open?

These have been the thoughts running through my mind, as chunky knits slip through my fingers, this autumn in the bay.

Small, large and difficult thoughts, that have made me reflect on situations a little differently in my days.

How about you?

What are you thinking about lately?

 

 

 

If you want to live a little more inspired this April, why don’t you print off these prompts and use the hashtag #inspire15 and do something creative with me.