When I first set out to write this blog, I declared that I would chronicle the seasons as well as my life. And I honestly have failed at the these past few months. Perhaps because it was the tail end of a particularly harsh winter, it was always cold, and the snow just continued to fall. (In fact, we got a foot last Thursday).
However, today the sun is shining! The air is warm with the scent of moist earth and the beginnings of new things. The lilac bushes at the corner of the house are showing buds and the trees feel the change coming too.
And even more than that, it is Easter Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. A day of remembrance and celebration. Of joy and peace.
I have been thinking about this a good deal since the Good Friday service I attended. The pastor challenged us to take an attitude of Thanksgiving with us and remembrance as we went into this particular weekend. We wrote out on small pieces of paper our Thanksgiving to the Lord and physically nailed it to the cross.
It was a very powerful moment. A moment when I could look back and see just how Christ has released me. How he has freed me! For many, many years I lived in darkness. Even knowing him, I had a shadow that I had refused to let go of. It was in my heart. I wasn't ready to forgive. I was trapped in the story.
But then, the Lord allowed his servant to speak to me at a conference I was at last month. And I thank the Lord for giving Dr. Rick Marks the gifts and passions that he has. For through the insight he shared, I was finally able to throw the darkness off! I learned that I was trapped in a story that my brain had been telling me for years, but that it was not MY story. It was someone else's story. And that freed me to finally forgive. And the lightness that I felt in that moment, the very lifting of my soul, was more than enough. I can only pray that the essence of that moment was as a delicious perfume to my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Which brings me back to Resurrection Sunday. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain, the very physical pain that Christ went through. Last night I read through Matthew, Mark & Luke's account of the Crucifixion, and what really stayed with me. What was really constant in all three accounts, was Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
"And going a little father he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39
"And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14:35
"And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, 'Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours, be done.' and there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:41-44
He knew, he knew exactly what he was going to go through and instead of running from it, he turned to his Father for strength. And he prayed earnestly, yet with the knowledge that his Father knew better and more than him. There was no other way.
And so this day, as you revel in the sunshine, in the fellowship with family, in the time (as my Family's customs is) of walking out after a wonderful time of communion and fellowship around the table into the freshness of the spring air, I would just remind you. My friends, my brothers and sisters, Christ died, he was buried and on the third day HE AROSE! He arose to fulfill everything that was written in the scriptures about him, that we may NO LONGER be separated from him. And so that when God looks at us, he sees only his Beautiful, Perfect & Holy Son.
Today the SON is shining!
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
