Why?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Marion Lorence

“Why have You forsaken Me?” It was true! In those moments while Jesus hung on the cross, His body suspended by nails, God abandoned Him, leaving Him to experience the agonizing death alone. The question that even Jesus needed to ask was “Why?”

Mark 15:34-35 (NASB) At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they [began] saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” (NASB)

The cruel events on Golgotha started in the morning at nine o’clock and, by noon, a strange darkness had come over the whole land. It was not an eclipse as it was the time of the full moon, but the sun was obscured, resulting in darkness, which did not hinder the mockery of the crowd surrounding the three crosses on the hill outside Jerusalem.

Jesus, suffering physical agony while struggling to breathe on the cross, was drawing inward as all the forces of His physical life were focused on the effort of drawing yet another breath. Continue reading →

Care

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Marion Lorence

From that hour the disciple took her into his own [household].

When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own [household].

John 19:25-27 (NASB) … But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the [wife] of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own [household]. (NASB)

The eyes of the Lord Jesus, through dirty sweat and crusted blood fell upon the figure of His distressed mother who was standing close to John, the disciple whom He loved. He could see her suffering and He cared and He understood completely.

What was she thinking about? Was she recalling the words of the angel Gabriel who told her that her body was to be the dwelling place of a child who was the Son of God? Was she feeling less that blessed among women as she realized that she would not be spared the deliverance of her Son as Abraham had been? She would have to endure the sacrificial death of the Son of promise, her Son… Jesus. Continue reading →

Forgiveness

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Marion Lorence

Luke 23:33-38 (NASB) When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

The first words of Jesus when this agonizing execution began were spoken within His own soul to His Father in heaven. They were words that spilled out of His mouth as He pleaded with the Father on their behalf. Someone heard Him in order to record that statement but there is no mention of anyone paying much attention to it. Apparently, none of them felt like they were doing anything that required forgiveness. Continue reading →

Cut To The Core

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Marion Lorence

You’ve seen it happen. When life circumstances cut you down, what’s really “under the hood” shows up and sometimes it is pretty ugly.

You’ve heard the saying… “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. True or not, it is my practice to eat an apple every day. Recently, I noticed that the top was showing some spoiling, so I thought, “I’ll just cut that part off and eat the rest. When I cut off the part that was visibly offensive, I found that the whole thing was rotten to the core with only the surface areas appearing to be yet unspoiled. It was clear, that given a few more days, even in the refrigerator, the whole apple would have been spoiled. Continue reading →

My Story

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Marion Lorence

I wrote my own story in 500 words, making sure I did not leave out the failures and mistakes that were also part of the tapestry of my life so far.

No matter how old I feel, I know that I am in the final quarter of the game. There is a lot of living left, but I think often about what I want to leave behind for the people I love. The essence of connection to other people is “being known” and I want those I love to know who I am and what I am about.

Obviously, I will leave behind all my stuff and whatever money I have accumulated, but what I really want to leave is the ideas and beliefs that have driven everything along the way. Continue reading →

Pay it Forward

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Marion Lorence

Find a younger person that is living in the storm of life right now that you have lived in the past. There are no NEW problems, just recycled ones!

As we get older, there is a natural drift toward isolation. Senior men and women begin to feel marginalized as their world shrinks and the choices are not as wide open as they were in the past. So how can we find meaning and purpose for our lives during the final season? How can we invest ourselves during the final season?

We live our lives forward, but we understand them by looking backward. Continue reading →

Invisible Pain

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Marion Lorence

Physical and emotional pains are a reality in everyone’s life.

On the outside, my fingernails looked perfect! But underneath two of those perfectly manicured nails was a throbbing pain that only I was noticing. Just hours before, somehow I had accidentally managed to get several fingers caught in the car door when I slammed it shut while grabbing for my seat-belt strap. Ouch!!!

I try to carry on, no matter what happens, so I tried reading to distract myself from the pain. Continue reading →

Knee Work

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Marion Lorence

“Knee work bears fruit.” It means that prayer is the starting place that will lead me to the next step I must see in order to find my way.

Who are you listening to? What voices are fueling your thinking?

We all build a structure of living that works for a time, but unforeseen, sometimes sudden upsets bring those structures down like a house of cards. Fear becomes a reaction that is understandable and can be paralyzing. If the downfall included the trauma of emotionally devastating loss or rejection such as divorce, death, catastrophic illness or economic disaster, the sinking feeling can take you down fast. Continue reading →

Get a vision

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Marion Lorence

In search of a vision for the future………… after my last day in over, I found a great book by Randy Alcorn

I wonder what heaven is like?

This week I attended a funeral, an occurrence that is more frequent than ever as my years increase. For my friend Gail, the final weeks were very difficult because of illness and it hit me once again that “nobody is getting out of here alive!” I don’t think that anyone looks forward to the process of dying for the simple reason that we are all wired for living and nobody looks forward to any kind of pain and suffering.

It got me thinking…. I wonder what heaven is like? Continue reading →

Minnesota Marion

Senior Season Solutions

Category Archives: Pain