happy easter!

Looks like yesterday's "Bradley" is now Calvin. Just as a heads-up. (:

I had a fun, relaxing day, and we even got to barbecue at Judith's place. I really miss easy access to a barbecue, so it was a nice change, and good food. I finally got to feed my craving for chocolate chip cookies by making a nice double batch. I had wanted to do it for the Heroes party, but there just wasn't enough time with the papers and homework I had to get done the entire week prior. Salad and I had a nice open discussion tonight as well. I don't know how people can keep relationships afloat without good communication. One of the things that came up are my personal walls and boundaries that keep aspects of me from coming to the surface, but that's really a subject for a future blog entry.

So since it's Easter, I got to thinking about the holiday and what makes it unique. I mean, it's obvious that we're celebrating the resurrection of Christ, but I was curious what made the holiday feel different. I came to the conclusion that everything surrounding the religious aspects and origins of the holiday is connected to hope. It is obvious from passages in the New Testament that the apostles just didn't get that Jesus had to die. Peripheral to that, I'm sure all of Christ's followers were pretty much flummoxed by the turn of events - from unfair trials and unruly mobs to the suffering on Calvary and the burial in the tomb, it must have really torn them up. The man that they believed to be the Son of God had just been killed by the government and ruling religious leaders. Their master and teacher was dead. It must have been an incredibly depressing and downcast few days.

Then suddenly Mary spoke with him. Then he appeared to the apostles. Understanding dawned. He was not dead, but was risen. The plan of God was not foiled, and evil had not triumphed. Better yet and more importantly, the Atonement was complete, and hope was given to a world of sinners and people who fall short of the glory of God. Death was overcome, and repentance made possible. Because Christ died, in Christ we may all be made alive, and be partakers of the gift.

In a world where terror dominates our news channels, where politics supercede religion, where diseases run rampant, crimes and atrocities are committed, and seemingly unbearable trials are faced, shouldered, and carried, we are reminded of the hope that comes through the Savior of the world. Christ lives, and He died for us. And beyond that, he made it possible that we can each be clean from not only the sins of the world but our individual sins as well.

Hope permeates every important aspect of Easter for me. I never really noticed it until I sat down and thought about it today. It's in the Easter hymns and children's songs, in the scriptures, in the Easter stories, and in the works of art. And it's in the spirit of the holiday, and in the Spirit. So at this time when we celebrate both the birth and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, have hope! There's plenty of it in the Lord.