Keeping Bowed, and Pointing to the Cross

On Easter Sunday, I saw a similar scene as this, and my family graciously complied to get our hands and fingers

together to form a cross.

To get a nice picture, we had to get some things out of the way.
We had to scoot all the table clutter away.
We had to get our heads out of the way (including noses and mouths).
And we had to pay close attention to what direction our fingers were pointing.

And to follow Christ and carry our cross, we very often have to get our curious, busy-body noses out of the picture,

and certainly our big mouths that are so quick to blab, blast, blame, blurt and bleep. 

We must get rid of the clutter of the distractions that are daily, worldly, and may seem innocent.

It's so easy to just point that pointer finger where it most easily goes--toward some idol we worship, toward someone to blame, or toward ourselves to take credit.

It takes God's grace to keep our words, actions, and attitudes pointing to the cross and touching other fingers, keeping in fellowship with others in the body of Christ, not just forsaking the assembling of ourselves together because we cannot agree with certain others on every matter.
Here we were a few weeks ago in Denver at Kids' Club, where Christian Walker is the "Good Shepherd" trying to find the "lost sheep" hiding in the back of the church
while the other "good" sheep are up by Holly safe in the fold.

It took us some effort to figure out how to position our thumbs and pointer fingers while keeping the rest of our fingers folded underneath.

It was hard to get my hand turned just right, and to remember to keep the extra fingers bent underneath, like a humble bowing before the Lord. 

"If we are truly following Jesus, we are not chasing miracles and spectacles like the crowds, but bowing our knees in reverent awe like the Roman centurion. We are not avoiding the costs of following Jesus at all costs, but rejoicing to be rejected, opposed, and afflicted with him. We are not clinging to the loves we had before we met him, but submitting every other love to our first and greatest love,"
wrote Marshall Segal of DesiringGod just a day or two ago.

This spoke deeply to me.