What pure joy it must have been for the disciples to see Jesus sitting by the fire, inviting them to, “Come, have breakfast.”
Here was their Savior, risen from the dead, asking them to spend time with him and share a meal with him, just as they had on a daily basis over their years together. What questions did they ask him? What did he share with them?

Imagine you walk into your favorite spot for breakfast and there, sitting in the corner booth, is Jesus, and he looks you in the eye and says, “Come, have breakfast.” What would you ask him, and what would you share with him? (Hopefully, he would not ask you to say the blessing for the meal. That would be peer pressure personified.)

Literally speaking, Jesus asking us to join him for breakfast seems farfetched. But is it farfetched to think this way if we leave breakfast out of his invitation and focus, instead, on what Jesus is asking -- “Come be with me?”

Isn’t Jesus really asking this of us, too? “Let’s spend some time together. Share with me what is troubling you, and tell me how I can help.” In this light, his request to the disciples becomes much more real for us.

How do we respond to his request to “come” and join him?

Much has been said and written about the power of “visualization.” Properly applied, it helps us anticipate the moment and prepare ourselves for what will happen. If we want to come closer to Jesus in our prayer life, maybe visualizing Christ sitting next to us as we pray, or being at our side throughout the day, might be a good place for us to start.

For many of us, the visualization might be the traditional image of Jesus in a long white robe. For others, Jesus might be sitting across from them wearing a hoodie. It really doesn’t matter, if we just close our eyes and let our minds imagine what it would be like to have Jesus at our side, listening to what we have to say, and participating in our conversation.

Visualizing Jesus at our side while praying might lead to a much deeper and more honest conversation with God. As we all know, it is a lot harder to avoid our true thoughts and feelings when the person we are talking to is sitting face-to-face with us.

As Easter Week draws to a close, let us continue to not only see God in all things, but to always see God with us at all times, asking us to “come” and be with him in our thoughts, words and deeds.