You know how every time you read a Bible story, you hear it with new ears because you are not now where you were then in your spiritual journey? It's like that saying “You can't step in the same river twice.” (Attributed to Heraclitus) Sometimes the difference is so great that we feel called to pause and pay attention. That happened to me today as I read the story of Tabitha/Dorcas and Peter.

I've always seen it as their story. Today, however, I recognize it as our story, yours and mine. Whenever we are stopped dead in our tracks with no where to go, or stuck in the muddy rut of the “same old, same old”, or find all the doors of possibility slammed shut in our faces, it becomes our story. Regardless of what metaphor you use, we’ve all been there at one time or another. It feels like life as we know it has ended. It's as final as death. And then out of the heavy, bleak darkness surrounding us, we hear the Beloved calling our name: Tabitha…John...Mary...Sam...Becky...Silas...Ruth...urging us to get up.

Get up? How can that be? As we slowly open our eyes, we see the hand of God reaching out to us, drawing us into new life. That is the good news of the gospel. Resurrection is happening all around us every day, in us and in all creation. May our hearts be ready to accept it when it comes, and may we walk forward in the way of Divine Love.