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EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

Saturdays in the Gudal household are spent one of three ways:

Chore day: our kids grew up with “the list” as they awoke to a larger-than-normal breakfast to fuel the workday ahead. I loved these days as we worked together, and we worked hard. It was non-negotiable until they wised-up and got real life jobs that seemed to always schedule them Saturdays!

Secondly, being gone, usually helping family, work-related obligations or, sometimes, running away for a fun day or weekend.

Lastly, an under-the-weather day. Thankfully there are not many of those on the yearly calendar.

John Ortberg wrote a great devotion on the Saturday of Easter.

So far as we know, there has only been one day in the last two thousand years when literally not one person in the world believed Jesus was alive.

On Saturday morning after Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples wake, not having slept for two days.

“The city that was screaming for blood the day before is quiet.” Crowds have disbanded. Jesus is dead,” Ortberg describes.

What do they do on Saturday?

Saturday is the day after but also the day before.

Saturday. It’s a strange day, this in-between day. Between despair and joy; between confusion and clarity; between bad news and good news; Between darkness and light.

Even in the Bible, outside of one detail about guards being posted to watch the tomb, we’re told nothing about Saturday.

Saturday is the day with no name. It is the day when nothing happened.

On Saturday when Jesus’ followers wake up, the terror is past, at least for the moment. The adrenaline is gone.

Those who believe in Jesus gather quietly. They remember. They’re trying to come to grips with this unfathomable thought.

Saturday is the day your dreams died. You wake up and you’re still alive. You must go on, but you don’t know how.

We all have had a “Saturday” in our lives. Some have too many Saturdays in their lives.

It’s that day of despair, waiting, questions and just simply walking through the motions, a numbness.

Ortberg calls these the three-day stories because they share a structure:

On the first day, there’s trouble or sorrow, and on the third day, there is deliverance or discovering hope.

But on the second day, there’s nothing — just the continuation of the situation. Silence happens on Saturday.

After trouble hits you, after the agony of Friday, you call out to God,

“Hear me! Listen to me! Respond to me! Do something! Say something! Rescue!”

There is hope coming, just around the corner!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28-30, NIV

Easter Sunday is the pinnacle of our Christian faith. He rises. He lives. He is all he said he would be. He is all we will ever need. Everything.
If you are in a Saturday of life, wait. Sunday is coming very soon!

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.