Happy Easter Everyone!

I must admit, I love the chocolate bunnies, the Easter egg hunts, the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and the pumpkin pie. I love the gathering together of family and friends. I love the fresh spring air, the sunshine, the sign of new life everywhere you look... the buds on the trees, the crocuses and daffodils poking their heads out of the ground.
I love everything about Easter and the spring season.

But these things I feel are simply gifts to us by and from something and someone far more important than all the things we love. I am able to enjoy these things because I was given life by a Creator who decided I was worth giving life to. And, more importantly, by a God who decided I was worth dying for. The bible says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

I am not stupid... I know that this life I am living and enjoying will not last forever. There will come a day when it will all pass away. But I also know that because of the price Jesus paid for my life, I will be able to live again and it will be a life far better than this one.... there will be no more pain, no sadness, no sickness, no stress, no bloodshed... just joy and peace forever. Easter, to me, is a reminder of that fact and I feel I need to take the time to acknowledge the amazing thing Jesus did for me by dying on a wretched cross for all of my sins, past, present and future. And even if you don't believe in Him, he still died for you regardless because he loves you so much. He never forces us to believe. He is a gentleman. He waits patiently with open arms.

Sometimes Christianity seems ridiculous, outdated, narrow-minded and arrogant. There are good reasons for that and I don't blame people for thinking that way. I have watched some evangelists on tv who I wouldn't trust for a minute. I know that wars have begun based on religion. There are Christians who have almost turned me off Christianity. Horrible things have been done in the name of religion throughout the ages. But I think Jesus addressed all of that in one sentence right after he had been whipped and beaten bloody, hung on the cross with huge nails driven into his hands and feet, his clothes ripped off and sold, when he was parched with thirst and only given vinegar to drink... he said," Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Now that is love. He understood how humans are; how they can act, how they fail. But he loves us anyway.

So today I feel the need to say, "Thank you God for loving me, such as I am... one who fails. And thank you for what you did for me and for the life you have prepared for me after this one... where the spring air will always be fresh, the sun will always shine, where new life will flourish everywhere you look... the buds on the trees, the crocuses and daffodils poking their heads out of the ground. And most importantly, where You will be. You and me forever..."