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gardener. This may partly have been because Jesus, though the<br />
same, was somehow different. But it may also be that Mary’s sense<br />
of grief blinded her to the fact that the One she was grieving over<br />
was standing there, alive from the dead! We can be like Mary – so<br />
consumed with our own feelings, or dominated <strong>by</strong> the circumstances<br />
that we’re facing, that we miss the fact that Jesus really is alive and<br />
wants to meet with us – not just during the most distressing of life’s<br />
circumstances, but also when things seem fine.<br />
So, how will we respond to Jesus? As I look back at the earlier part<br />
of my life I can recall times when, with hindsight, I see that God was<br />
trying to get my attention, yet I chose to ignore his invitation. The<br />
difference between these times and my experience when I was 19,<br />
was that I first said ‘yes’ to the invitation of friends to go to that first<br />
church service and then to a Christian camp to explore further, which<br />
was where I finally invited Christ to come into my life. Since that time,<br />
I have continued to say ‘yes’ to responding to God’s ongoing invitation<br />
to experience an ever-deepening knowledge of him and his wonderful<br />
love.<br />
PAUSE AND PONDER<br />
How about you? If you’re not yet a Christian, or someone<br />
who no longer follows Jesus, what could a ‘next step’ be<br />
for you? If you are a Christian, what would it look like to<br />
develop your relationship with the Lord, spending more<br />
time with him in personal devotions and collective worship<br />
and being open to his ‘loving intervention’ in your daily life?<br />
To return to the story: in a moment of high drama, Jesus took the<br />
initiative to reveal himself with one simple word: ‘Mary’.
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