My aha moment began the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving 2022. The preacher spoke about the importance of a grateful heart. I’m sure Christians everywhere heard a similar sermon. However, I thought our preacher covered the subject better than most. I listened as he discussed the virtues of having a grateful heart, which transforms one’s character and attitude. Hmm, I thought. Gratitude and attitude were similar and linked. But that wasn’t my aha moment.
As the preacher shared scripture to make his point, he explained how a grateful heart would not co-exist with objectional behaviors such as complaining. He reasoned that grateful people are happier. Although profound, that was not my aha moment.
I knew what he said was true because after my son passed, I experienced something similar. My mind drifted as I remembered the many times my grief became unbearable. Times when I would cry out to God to send me the Comforter. Immediately, I would say in my mind and sometimes aloud, “Thank you, God, for giving me my son. Thank you, God, that you blessed me with Remington.” I repeated this over and over as the Comforter pulled me from the dark, destructive grip of depression. The grief and hurt never went away, but words of gratefulness kept me from drowning in dark hopelessness. Hopelessness and gratefulness will not share the same heart—something I learned over the years still, that was not my aha moment.
Then, the preacher quoted a familiar scripture, which brought me back to the present. Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk? Mathew 9:5 (NIV). This statement Jesus made to the ungrateful people has always puzzled me. I felt as if no one could explain it thoroughly. I knew Jesus came to forgive sins and that He healed many people, but why did He challenge the skeptics by asking which was easier to say? Like most Christ followers, my prayer is to know Jesus, so why can I not follow His thought process in that verse?
I grew up with my share of siblings and felt as if I knew them so well our thoughts paralleled. I could catch their eye across the room and know exactly what they were thinking. I never thought of them as less than perfect. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing them to Jesus, but being surrounded by Christian siblings helped me accept and know my Lord.
“God, what am I missing here?”
Aha! Then, as if God knew my question before I asked, the aha moment happened, and the solution materialized—or at least an answer to what I thought Jesus might have been thinking. Was His future destiny of the cross on His mind as He asked that question? Did He want us to understand that forgiveness of sin is the most critical healing process? A healed soul and spirit allow us to be in the presence of God forever. Healing a man’s legs was important but only for a short time, compared to an eternity. Of course, healing a body would be easier for Jesus than bearing the weight of all the world’s sins while being crucified on the cross.
I’m sure not everyone in the crowd knew the depth of Jesus’ question. I didn’t grasp his entire meaning and will probably not fully understand until Jesus teaches us in glory. I thank God for his patience and wonder what else I miss in His word.
“Can you just imagine the aha moments that await us in Heaven?”