Easter Musings

As I woke up this morning and greeted little E, I remembered that it was Easter.  The morning went on as any morning with me stumbling into the kitchen, peeling Eliot a "nana" and listening to him "tell" me about his night.  The only difference was, I kept thinking, "Today is Easter.  What does that mean to me today, right now, in this stage of my life?"  I wanted to read other people's reflections (knowing they would be much more profound and well thought out than mine) and came across this quote:

‎"It is the hour to rend thy chains, the blossom time of souls." - Katherine Lee Bates


How beautiful.  But something struck me.  What are my chains? What keeps my soul from blossoming as Ms. Katherine so eloquently put it?


Worry.
Doubt.
Routine.
Stress.
Pride.
Insecurity.
Selfishness.


Okay, I now realize that this go on forever.  As I write this, my eyes fill up as I realize that I.am.broken.


But thankfully, my story doesn't end with that sentence.  Like Jesus' followers and disciples on his resurrection day, I come to REALIZATION.  How amazing to have watched all those people that Jesus kept trying to teach in so many parables, phrases, sermons... finally get it.  Like in a movie, when a character has a big realization and you see in their mind's eye flashbacks and hear voices of people in their past and it finally makes sense.  That is what today is to me.  REALIZATION.  That I don't have to be okay with my brokenness.  That somebody divine hated those chains as much as me and made me whole.  Made you whole...made EVERYONE whole.


So once that dawned on those of 2000 years ago (and me today) then comes ANTICIPATION.   The disciples and followers of Jesus then lived in total anticipation...as if He was coming back in their life time.  Do I do that?  Today reminds me to hold on to that anticipation.  To not let it get lost in my worries, my routines, my stresses, my petty concerns, my pride.  If I had the anticipation daily that Christ is coming to redeem, to save, to LOVE, then all of these "chains" would surely diminish.  


And so today I am filled with REALIZATION and ANTICIPATION.  Ultimately HOPE and LOVE.  Because I have a lot of things to make right, to be ready, for when He comes.


Happy Easter everyone.  May your chains diminish and your soul blossom on this day of resurrection and hope.