Easter 2019
Easter is a funny thing. I remember the amount of work I put in to it as a young mother. There were Easter outfits for the whole family to buy and coordinate. There was a big Easter basket to create for the kids. The Easter bunny always left it outside the front door of our house because it was to big to for him to bring in. After all he does not have a key, and does not slide down the chimney easily. Even with a stupendous amount of bunny bounce it is hard to get to the roof without a reindeer. Then there was the dinner…I was the young dutiful wife and mother who cooked and laid a beautiful spread. Off to church we went looking our best and faking perfection.
The me of yesteryear had so many voices in her ear I could not hear the true calling on my life, I could not even hear myself. As I have grown older I realize how many of the hurts from those years have tagged along for the ride. I was very much someone who lived up to the expectation of others. Mostly to avoid conflict. I had a difficult mother in law, to say the least, and I lived scared. What I actually lived was robbed. Robbed of the joy of growing into my own woman, creating a life that followed not just my intention but MY purpose.
In the final moments of the life of Jesus, the most difficult, most painful, most betrayed moment any man could experience, he exclaimed “forgive them father.”….. Purpose…… Even if you do not believe in Christ it is undeniably spring. The celadon green buds on trees, the bulbs that have been working all winter out of sight to reveal their beauty, bring a renewal. It’ s time to let go. Exhale out the winter, the hurt, the lack of forgiveness, the pain. Its important we recognize it, but those things are not cement shoes. They are platforms to reach a new level of being. One that understands where you have been and can bring that to others. One that is more dynamic because you were first imperfect. I am grateful for the winters of my life. But now those old things fall away, and I feel my soul break through the soil. It does so without Easter baskets or dinners, without fancy shoes or polished children to display. I stand authentic and excited that what was, is fertilizer for what is to come. I guess whether you celebrate Easter for the bunnies, the food, the candy or the cross, the account is that someone died so that you may live. It’s our responsibility to do just that.