Easter

Good Friday service is always my favorite of the year.  The meaning, the music, the remembering.  And this year was no exception.  Something that Ann Voskamp said in the book I am reading, "One Thousand Gifts" stuck with me.  She wrote about how eucharisteo when broken down can be translated into grace, gratitiude and joy.  And I have been reflecting on this during our communion table.  And on Good Friday I meditated on that message throughout the day and into our service time.  The grace shown to me by Jesus going to the cross to die in my stead is nothing short of amazing and wonderful.  In that grace I stand and am forever grateful.

But this year, it was the Easter service that touched my heart so deeply.  Perhaps it has to do with so recently losing my Mom and my Uncle.  The reality of the resurrection was so much more touchable and  substantive this year.  You know how we know something is true, but because it is not discernible with our physical senses it becomes something intangible and abstract?  Well I kind of feel that way about the resurrection and heaven.  I know they are real, more real than any of the transient world we live in will ever be...but they certainly don't feel that way. Until this year.  The music, the sermons, the prayers...they were all made more real in my heart this Happy Easter day.  I believe God knew I needed the extra, the little bit deeper grasp of true resurrection.  It was so comforting.  It was such a blessing.

Thank You Lord for the Resurrection.  We knew that because Jesus lives, so do we and so do those we love who have gone home before us.  Make this more real, everyday, in our lives.