No meat today…small meals…no snacks. No, I am not going on a
diet, it’s just Good Friday. Wait, JUST Good
Friday? The word just should not be in that statement, just as the perception
of Easter is all about bunnies, candy, and egg hunting. Don’t get me wrong,
it’s a great and fun family activity, but it is not what Easter is about. Good Friday is the day we commemorate
the death of Jesus Christ and Easter Sunday celebrates His resurrection. I
truly think that society has shadowed the true meaning of such an important
holiday.
Now, as I step off my soapbox, I must say that I read an
article today that had the quote “We live in a Good Friday world, but we are
Easter people.” The writer went on to explain that a Good Friday world is a
world full of suffering, questioning, unfairness, trouble, mistakes, losses and
grief. The explanation fit in perfectly of what Good Friday celebrates and
while he didn’t go on to what he meant by Easter people, just think about.
We live in a world where there is total devastation all
around us – it is the man who has terminal cancer; the military jet that
crashed into an apartment building; the girl who became paralyzed; the car accident; the parents who lost their baby boy too soon; and the
soldier on his 4th tour. These situations and all of our troubles can be heart wrenching. We suffer, we question, we grief.
We are Easter people. We have hope that our troubles and our
devastations will resolve. We pray for the courage to get through the tough
times and devastation and we pray for an eternal hope. We have faith that God
will help us through our time times and present us with new.
When I had my accident, I questioned why this happened to
me…I’m not sure I’ll ever know and that is okay (see My Plan or His), but
I always knew I would be okay. When my brother pulled me from that river and
held my hand while I laid on the shore waiting for an EMT, I was calm. I didn’t
know what had happened to me and I knew I couldn’t move my legs, but I was
calm. When I was laying in the Emergency Room in Tulsa, I was calm when that
doctor told me I’d never walk again…in fact I responded back and told him I
thought he was wrong. I had a
feeling come over me…I knew I was going to be okay. I continued to pray and I
hoped for my healing, for my resurrection.
The story of Easter week did not end on Friday, the hope
lies on Sunday.
“We are Easter People” by Diane Cameron http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-04-09-forum-easter_x.htm
Well said Em!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Em! Once again, I am SO glad you are blogging. Can you imagine going through what either of us has without the peace provided by God's mercy??
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