Looking For Life Among the Dead

I do it all the time – look for life in dead places. I go back constantly, searching the tombs – reminders of life past – seeking help, hope. Somehow it must be there in the old ways, mazes of mist-shrouded graves. They mark the spots where life once was, these sepulchers, but nothing is left but memory, regret.

How can life be here – in places He is not? There is no life apart from Him. And I hear the angel asking, Why, Deidra, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here.

I already know that, yet I go back, search anyway. Why? There is comfort in memory and observance. There is relief in my ritual – a way to bring order to things I do not understand, over which I have no power. My going back is self-inflicted  penance, an attempt to find peace.

But when I go back, I forget about Him, that day, the moment He left. He got up from the grave, the tombs I go back to, the places I search. He is not there – in the guilt, sadness, past mistakes, habits,  covered dead places. He has risen, and in His ascension carried away those things I return to look for.

We will never find His new life in dead places. We can never attain peace, joy from visiting holes that hide the past.

Anything we engage in apart from Him will only bring death, whether it is a relationship, habit, or lifestyle. We need His resurrection power in every area of our lives. We cannot keep returning to places He is not and expect to find Him.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?He is not here; he has risen!” – Luke 24:5b, 6a