A Reflection on the Easter Holiday

I know I usually keep it light on here, but today I’m venturing a little deeper.

It’s Spring Break season, and many of us are taking vacations to connect with family, and pursue our personal interests and enjoyments. As the weather grows warmer and the flowers bloom, this is also a beautiful time of year to reconnect spiritually, focusing on the Author of Life.

The Easter holiday falls on April 9th this year, which is a meaningful date for me as it was my brother’s birthday.

My brother was a navy veteran who, after a sometimes excruciating battle with serious mental illness and substance use, took his life at the age of 31. For me, that year was a time of anxiety, fear, and intense grief.

It was not the only time in my life I have faced the sting associated with addiction, hopelessness, death, or despair. I have felt the sting of loss, the sting of inadequate love, the sting of shame, of not being enough.

Haven’t we all?

But it is in the midst of those times that the meaning behind the Easter holiday is most precious.

1 Corinthians 15:51 asks, “Oh death, where is thy sting?”

I have been fortunate, in the midst of my own personal trials, to experience hope. To know, in my heart of hearts, that I and my loved ones redeemed (yes, even those lost to suicide, those in addiction and illness) are completely, entirely known; loved just as we are; and forgiven, made new. This is why we ask, “oh death, where is your sting?”

Here on earth, the sting remains; But the hope conquers.

Hope conquers because the Author of life chose to submit to the sting of death, the shame of sin, this mud in which we wallow for a time, to let us emerge clean and free, and at peace with ourselves and our Creator.

Hope conquers because of the One who conquered death and rose from the grave on the third day.

“Oh grave, where is thy victory?”

Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

As we watch new life spring up around us in this season of regeneration, we are reminded of our spiritual renewal that allows us to move forward with hope and abundant life. We can be thankful for the sunshine, the delicate new blooms, the soft breeze, and further, the renewal of our selves, day by day.