This Time of Year

I just love this time of year - don't you? School is winding down, Spring is here, the sweet rains of March and April that remind me of mercy falling on me, and most of all Easter. I love, love, love Easter. As a child I loved it for the Easter bunny and the really warm, fuzzy church services. As a teen I loved it because my daddy would always buy me a new dress. Mind you, sweet Aubrey will still take me out to buy a new Easter dress if I ask. :) As an adult I really GOT the meaning of Easter. I love to go back to the Old Testament and read about the Passover lamb God sent for the Israelites - rescuing them out of bondage and captivity. Isn't that what Jesus is? He is our Passover lamb - the one that rescued us, through His blood from death and dying! Hallelujah. Knowing that my God LIVES while other gods are buried or contained in metal or wood casings brings fresh hope to my reason for living. Today, Easter is a bit sweeter. It's the last day of March and as I look back over the last three months I realize that there was a symbolic death going on in my life. Death of fear, death of cancer, and death of pride. Today, I'm alive. I'm alive because of Him. I'm alive because 2000 years ago HE decided to allow people to beat him and crucify Him for me. I don't know if I'm weird, but I love Good Friday services. I cry like a baby and I'm emotionally shredded after these services, but something in me needs to remember how beautifully awful His death was. To me, it makes Sunday morning much sweeter. Easter symbolizes the fruition of God's plan of salvation. Go back to Exodus and remind yourself of the horrible bondage that God's people were in and how He heard their cries and sent a deliverer. How he punished those who hurt His people, how He rescued His people from death through the blood of a lamb, how He parted the Red Sea and gave them bread from heaven. Then ... fast forward to the gospels of the New Testament and see how the blood of THE Lamb rescues us from death, how He parted the curtain of the temple to GET TO US, and how His Holy Spirit gives us the bread of God's Word to comfort and console us. It's all there - Old Testament to New Testament. So, go and enjoy the Passion week - Maundy Thursday (the day of Jesus' last Passover meal), Good Friday (the day of His crucifixion), and Sunday - glorious Easter Sunday - celebrate. Dance, sing, praise, reflect, enjoy Him. Let the newness of the spring season resonate in your heart that He can make all things new. He still heals, delivers,and saves.
Love you much,
Ann
xoxoxox