“‘He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.’” — John‬ ‭20:15-16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This image holds more than memory—it holds a moment where I felt Jesus closer than ever. It was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where He prayed to be spared. Where He wrestled with what was to come.

To sit beneath the olive trees—some of which may have witnessed that very night—was surreal. As if they carried the weight of that evening still. The sorrow, the surrender, the love.

And all I could feel was a pull toward Him. A longing to step into the story. To rage against the ending I already knew. I thought about Peter, sword drawn, desperate to protect the one he loved. I understood that instinct more than ever.

But what I felt wasn’t resistance. It was presence. Jesus met me there—not with rebuke, but with comfort. Like He did with Mary. He called me by name and whispered, “I love you. And now is the time for dancing. I didn’t stay gone. Dry your tears—we have stories to tell.”

That’s the invitation. That’s the heart of it.

He didn’t stay gone.
He knows your name.
And yes—there is still dancing to be done.