One of my favorite candies comes out once a year for Easter. Those mini Robin Eggs are my weakness for the entire year. I can pass up all types of candy for Halloween and Christmas, but as soon as the Easter candy hits the isle I begin to stock up! Every time I go to Walmart I grab a bag trying to get a stockpile going, but the stockpile is diminished before the summer is up. This is just one of the many things I love about spring.
There is also a newness in the air. This last month I have been renewed so many mornings and afternoons by sitting on our back patio watching and listening to birds. Even Walt comes out and notices when the birds are hungry! Spring and the birds makes me miss my grandmother because she loved her birds, and I am trying to make her proud by keeping all SIX of her bird feeders filled with the best bird food because it is obvious that she took good care of them.
Spring is also when I am reminded of second chances. The year passes, and I make so many mistakes in so many different areas of my life, but when spring is here so is Easter, a celebration that Jesus rose from the dead and because of this, I am saved from all of my failures.
There are so many things that I adore about spring, and those things help to lighten the load of my heavy heart this time of the year. It can't come without me thinking of how much Magdalena would have loved spring had she lived a few months longer. A butterfly doesn't pass without me thinking of how beautifully healed she is with Jesus. New Easter dresses make me realize how big she would be right now. And on Easter morning with the pastor preaches that it was Magdalene (Magdalena is Magdalene is Spanish.) who first saw Jesus, and I think of my Magdalena's face seeing Jesus. It's the time of year when my grief lays heavy on my heart, and it is a tiny wonderful and difficult things all at one time. But just as this holiday opens open a wound, it is the Neosporin that helps it to heal. This wound will never completely heal, but I am so thankful that this holiday is filled with the hope of Jesus because he does live!
So many of us have lost people that we love, and let us grieve this Easter season with hope. Because Jesus lives we are forgiven, and we will be reunited with those we love!
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
(Mark 16:1-8 ESV)
There is also a newness in the air. This last month I have been renewed so many mornings and afternoons by sitting on our back patio watching and listening to birds. Even Walt comes out and notices when the birds are hungry! Spring and the birds makes me miss my grandmother because she loved her birds, and I am trying to make her proud by keeping all SIX of her bird feeders filled with the best bird food because it is obvious that she took good care of them.
Spring is also when I am reminded of second chances. The year passes, and I make so many mistakes in so many different areas of my life, but when spring is here so is Easter, a celebration that Jesus rose from the dead and because of this, I am saved from all of my failures.
There are so many things that I adore about spring, and those things help to lighten the load of my heavy heart this time of the year. It can't come without me thinking of how much Magdalena would have loved spring had she lived a few months longer. A butterfly doesn't pass without me thinking of how beautifully healed she is with Jesus. New Easter dresses make me realize how big she would be right now. And on Easter morning with the pastor preaches that it was Magdalene (Magdalena is Magdalene is Spanish.) who first saw Jesus, and I think of my Magdalena's face seeing Jesus. It's the time of year when my grief lays heavy on my heart, and it is a tiny wonderful and difficult things all at one time. But just as this holiday opens open a wound, it is the Neosporin that helps it to heal. This wound will never completely heal, but I am so thankful that this holiday is filled with the hope of Jesus because he does live!
So many of us have lost people that we love, and let us grieve this Easter season with hope. Because Jesus lives we are forgiven, and we will be reunited with those we love!
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
(Mark 16:1-8 ESV)
Happy Easter to you and your beautiful family!
ReplyDeleteAlso love that spring is when God shows us resurrection through nature at the same time we are celebrating His Son's resurrection.
All that was dead over the winter comes back to a more beautiful life of blooms, bright colors and better than new!
He is Risen. He is Risen, indeed.