Easter Sunday.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, because of what it symbolizes for those of us who are Christian.

Even if I wasn't a Christian, I think I would still love Easter, because of this season in the year.  Spring is such a rejuvenating season - grass gets greener, trees start to bud, flowers begin to bloom.  It's just so refreshing!  So the fact that this beautiful holiday happens in this season of sweet transition just makes it all the better.

This year, I mentioned how Good Friday took on a new reality for us.  I felt so sober as I thought about the Father and how He understands our pain, because He also had to lose His Son for a moment in time.  Today, Resurrection Sunday, has also taken on a new reality for us.

As a Christian, I believe that Jesus went to the Cross, dying so that He could conquer the pain of sin and death.  I believe that He laid in the tomb for three days, and on the third day, rose again.  Near the end of His life, Jesus shared with His disciples that He was going to die, but also rise again.  Can you imagine being one of the disciples and hearing that?  What a mix of emotions.  I imagine it to be similar to the confused emotions I've been feeling ever since I learned Emmett had died.  The pain of losing him seems so great, yet I have hope…hope, faith, and dare I say, confidence that I will see him again.  Yet when I think about the disciples all those years ago, after seeing Jesus die, and then laid in the tomb, I can only imagine how dark and hopeless it must have felt.

Friday night while Ryan and I were laying in bed, I began to ponder how those around Jesus must have felt when He died.  Even though they had this knowledge that they would see Him again, that death is just a temporary separation, they still grieved over their loss.  Yes, there was the promise that He would rise, but they still grieved.  They had just ministered (powerfully) alongside of the Messiah, their dear friend, and then He was dead.  Even with that promise of life, there was still grief.

…

My favorite part of reading the accounts of resurrection day in the Bible though are when Jesus's closest friends and family saw Him after He had risen.  In John it says they were overjoyed to see Him.

Have you ever read some synonyms for the word overjoyed?

…ecstatic
…euphoric
…jubilant
…deliriously happy
…blissful

I could go on, but we would be here for quite awhile looking at a long list of words.  When I read about the joy of the disciples when they're reunited with Jesus on resurrection day, I can't help but to think of my own future reunion with my son, and the joy that I know I will feel when I get to see him again.  I can't help today but to think about how because Jesus did go to the cross, conquer death, hell and the grave, that I have this glorious opportunity.  I have the sweet promise of life.

…

This Easter, I am choosing to keep my eyes open towards the sun, and the Son, as I wrestle with the emotions of grief and the ache in my heart for my son.  Yes, I feel the pain of loss, but today I will choose to be joyful, because I have the great promise of a sweet reunion, and eternal life through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.