THE DAY AFTER

The day after.

Do you ever experience that let-down feeling the day after a great day?

I know I do.

I don't know if it's a physical thing – the actual decline of excitement-fueled adrenaline draining out of my body…or if it's emotional – the heart's way of protecting us from non-stop *highs*…

But, it's real.

I remember when I was growing up – (yes, today I remember that…I'm having a lucid day) – and I'd go away to church camp. Oh, what a spiritually uplifting time it was! And then…

…I came back home.

Let-down.

WAA. WAA. WAA.

My family never argued as much as they did when I returned home from church camp!

Other *day after* let-downs?

My college graduation – (now what am I going to do?)

The day after my wedding – (who is this guy I'm living with now?)

The day I took my firstborn home from the hospital – (now what am I going to do?)

The day I took my youngest home from the hospital – (who is this other guy I'm taking home now?)

Sons' graduation – (now what are THEY going to do?)

You get the picture.

Post-holiday let-downs are particularly fun. Because they are usually accompanied with giant messes to clean up.

I got to thinking about this very human phenomenon of *day after* disappointment and disillusionment.

And I got to thinking about Easter Sunday.

Or, more specifically, the day after.

What was going on in the hearts and minds of the disciples?

The Bible gives us a little window into it:

Confused.

Startled.

Frightened.

Doubtful.

Disbelief.

Stubborn disbelief.

I think I would have been all those things, too – don't you?

But, the most interesting thing to me is the account that is found in John 21:1-14. In this passage, some of the disciples are back fishing – AFTER seeing the resurrected Christ!

What were they thinking?

Those who had quickly dropped their nets to follow after Jesus not that long ago, now returned to their old familiar ways?

They went backwards?

It had been a crazy Holy Week for them – a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, a terrible betrayal and arrest, a travesty of a trial, a brutal crucifixion…

Only to be followed by an empty tomb, rumors of resurrection, and a few startling appearances by Jesus.

I'm thinking they had to be asking themselves at some point, "Now what am I going to do?"

Did they think that the resurrected Lord was going to become the conquering King now? And when He sorta went back to business as usual, did they wonder what He was up to? Did they question their place in the scheme of things?

Were the days after Easter morning a let-down?

Maybe – because they went back to their status quo – their "fallback" position.

They went fishing.

Until a certain silhouette appeared on shore.

"Fellows, have you caught any fish?"

Little did they know that their lives were about to change forever.

So, what are you thinking, what are you feeling, this day after Easter?

Are you tempted to relegate Resurrection Sunday to "yesterday"?

Did you celebrate with singing and praising and fanfare? And are you thinking that that was all well and good…yesterday?

But today – well, today life is *back to normal* – life with all its messiness. Life lived sometimes in confusion, fear, and doubt. Life lived underwhelmed and overstressed.

Time to go back to the status quo – time for some fishing.

Or is it?

If you're like me, it pays to ponder what yesterday really and truly means for us – today and every day.

Because Easter Sunday changes us forever.

There IS no status quo anymore.

There IS no fishing the way it used to be.

There IS no excuse for not seeing the resurrected Lord in every moment of our days.

After all, that empty tomb filled every empty corner of our hearts, and forever vanquished the vacancy in our sin-filled souls.

Can I have a holy WOO HOO?!

The day after Easter – a let-down?

No.

Because when you think about it, Easter never really goes away.

For on that day we were resurrected with Jesus. We, too, were raised from the dead. We also were given the promise of eternal life.

We can never go back – our old lives have been swallowed up.

And we have work to do.

No, not the "same old, same old" work. But new work, with new intensity, and new purpose.

Jesus invites us to *fish on the other side of the boat* – to join Him in the Great Commission.

"Go and make disciples of all the nations."

That, my friends, will never be a let-down.

What are you thinking about the *day after* Easter Sunday?

Linked today with Joan at SHARING HIS BEAUTY

BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"