Indeed

It has taken me twenty two years to BEGIN to realize what Easter is all about.

For me Easter used to be about:

+my family and I sharing a meal a my grandparents’ dinning room table.

+getting a small Easter surprise Easter morning.

+spending the morning with my church family.

+singing Easter hymns at Centreville Baptist

+a restful break in Nova Scotia.

+a time to dream of making Easter dresses for all of my future daughters.

+a day to match all the church ladies by wearing purple.

+listening to the Easter Cantata.

+seeing the white side of the choir sashes, opposed to the blue.

+waking up to my mom’s voice.

+remembering Easter egg hunts in the snow.

+dishing up dinner at 12pm.

+driving to church by myself.

This year Easter is quite literally about sacrifice.

+This year I don’t have any of the things that once reminded me of Easter. 

+This year I’m spending Easter with family, just not the family that I expected.

+This year I’m spending Easter with  brothers and sisters in Christ.

+Hiding Easter eggs filled with trail mix around the apartment.

+Having no specific time to cook a turkey.

+Driving to church with friends.

+Celebrating the end of the Lenten season with a big plate of bacon.

The past few holidays have been different for me. Mom and I have celebrated them early. Christmas and my birthday were celebrated almost a month before the rest of the world celebrated them. Easter and my mom’s “Big” birthday were celebrated a few days before the calendar told us to.

This Easter was about sacrifice.

My mom gave up her turkey, and the fixins,

She gave up time with me,

She gave up the small easter gifts she had set aside for me, to give to someone who needed them more. She gave up a few hours of her Saturday all so that I could be with a friend who needed me. I gave up all the things that Easter used to mean to me. Easter now means love, sacrifice, and presence. This Easter God used situatins in my life to show me one one millionth of what Easter is about, and what Jesus did. The world has such a way of twisting things, and it is so easy, even for Christians to get confused in the tangled web, but this Easter is different. This Easter is different indeed. This Easter is better. This Easter is better indeed. This Easter is about Jesus. This Easter is about Jesus indeed. Christ has risen. Christ has indeed. 

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave!