He is Risen

His greatest of all gifts to human kind gives us a hope and a light that extends past the obscurity and darkness and tragedy of death. It is the hope that eases pain, that heals the broken heart, that is the balm of Gilead.

Our little family loves everything about Easter: Cadbury eggs, Easter egg hunts, the Easter bunny, new Sunday clothes, Easter lilies, beautiful Easter music, and time spent with extended family and friends. As much as we love these wonderful parts of Easter, it is so sweet to remember on occasion the deeper and more significant meaning of this sacred time of year.

Recently I awoke from a dream with my pillow wet in tears. My husband had to calm me down as I awoke and explained to him the horror of the nightmare I had just experienced. I had a dream  that my dear sister, my closest childhood friend, the girl I had always looked up to and hoped to become like, had died. I was at her funeral, and I felt probably the darkest and saddest I had ever felt in my life. It was a sorrow I had never experienced before.

As my husband calmed me down and told me again and again, “it’s OK, she’s alive!”, I started to feel peace again. My mind and heart was carried away to those who have lost close loved ones. My heart had a greater empathy for them than I had ever before experienced. It was as real as if it had really happened to me. I then began to think of what it would be like if I didn’t believe or know that I could see my family again, even after death. It would be as if that cloud of darkness, that sorrow, would never be healed.

I began to think of my gratitude to Jesus Christ for overcoming death, for conquering that darkness so that we could experience life again. Truly the greatest words ever spoken on this earth were spoken by the angel to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb “He is not here, for he is risen” (Matthew 28:6). His greatest of all gifts to human kind give us a hope and a light that extends past the obscurity and darkness and tragedy of death. It is the hope that eases pain, that heals the broken heart, that is the balm of Gilead.

As I have attended funerals over the years, I have noticed that those families who had a strong knowledge of eternal life and eternal families had a light and a peace and even a joy at the funeral that was not present at the funerals where there was little to no understanding of these doctrines. At the funerals of those who had not the understanding of the resurrection and of life after death, there was so much sorrow. It makes me want to tell the world that there is truly a Redeemer – A Savior who makes life possible after death, for everyone.

While the sorrow of death is universal, that hope and joy that can replace the darkness and sorrow of death is real through Christ. How I love Jesus Christ for making that peace and hope possible. He is truly the way, the truth, and the life.

Glory be to Him, and to the Father for allowing His Only begotten Son to go below all things for us, that we might live again.

Invitation: This Easter I invite you to think more on the Savior, and what His Resurrection means to you personally. One way might be to hang up a picture of the Resurrected Christ. It also helps to remember the symbolism of the Easter egg, the lily, or the green grass. New life.

Please share you thoughts and experience below!