Easter

I”m having trouble adjusting to such a late Easter.  The end of April is birthday time at our house—Jim, Brent, and Hailey in a 15 day stretch—and somehow, adding Easter to this mix feels wrong.  In the rush that is our perpetual birthday week, it can feel lost in the shuffle.

I love Easter.  It’s one of my very favorite days.  Even better than Christmas!  :)  It’s not so much that we DO anything special at Easter (because we generally don’t) but more the opportunity to reflect on new life.  Flowers are blooming.  Trees are budding.  Birds are back, chirping in the (very!) early morning.  Frogs are back in the ponds, singing their songs in the evening.   The sun shines, and even feels warm!  After a long, cold, rainy winter, the change is refreshing.  With everything so new and alive, it’s hard to not see God.  His handiwork is EVERYWHERE in the spring.  And with the glorious reminders of His creativity and power come opportunities to reflect on His sacrifice that allows us to become new creatures.  That’s why I love Easter.  It’s a time of new growth, of change, of rebirth.

This year, Easter comes with a bonus—another birthday.  My nephew Nicholas turns 9 tomorrow.  Last April we learned that his Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) had returned.  Again.  This time, it returned after a bone marrow transplant.  The odds were definitely against him.  The survival rate for a second transplant sounded grim.  There weren’t many (any?) other options, and Nick had a second transplant last fall.  Now 7 months post-transplant, he looks and feels healthy.  He’s back in school and doing well.  He’s amazed his doctors.  As we celebrated his birthday with a family dinner tonight, I took a moment and thanked God for the miracle amongst us this afternoon—Nick.  It was another reminder of the preciousness of new life, the blessing of second chances. 

Tomorrow, the sunshine we enjoyed today will likely be gone.  It will be missed!  We’re off to church in the morning.  Then we’ll have an Easter Egg hunt and dinner with my parents.  Not the fanciest, most exciting way to spend the day, but probably the best way.  Enjoyable, peaceful, and filled with family, with plenty of opportunity to reflect on the best gift of all—Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

~Jesus Paid it All by Elvina M. Hall, 1865