Missing Easter...or Not!

 

Lord, today I am "missing Easter." I am missing all of the preparations that I would be doing in the US....boiling the eggs and coloring them, baking the almond puff pastry, jelly beans and chocolate cashew eggs and decorating as if spring has arrived. Oh, and the scent of hyacinths, my mom loved hyacinths. I am missing familiar Easter hymns. And I am missing being with my family and friends.

 

Yet, Lord, I know that isn't what Easter is all about. it isn't about polish sausage and a butter lamb and jelly beans and chocolate. It's about You. It's about Your triumph over death, crushing the head of the serpent. It's about victory so that we, including myself, can be with You in Your Kingdom for all eternity. 

 

So, what do I do? I will ride my bicycle into town. I will buy eggs. Maybe I will be able to buy some bread flour. I can buy some chocolate (even if it is far from a chocolate cashew egg!) When the internet is working, I can email my brothers. I can write my sister a letter. And, I can focus on You, worship You with my Ghanaian friends and family.

 

On the first day of the week...the stone had been taken away from the tomb..."Why do you seek the living among the dead?

 



Bittersweet

Bittersweet. That is what Easter was for me this year. Bittersweet. That one word covers it all. No, I'm not talking about a type of chocolate. I'm talking about being here, in the US, not knowing exactly when I'll be with the orphans of Lawra, Ghana. I'm not packing up my apartment yet. I'm not selling my car yet. I haven't gone through tearful, but excited good byes yet. I do keep doing what needs to be done - praying, studying, calling, speaking, inviting...

The sweet part was that I was here, in the US, worshipping in my home church. I have spent Easter in Ghana and in Peru and it was so good to worship with my church family. I was also able to worship at a church just a block from where I live and able to have a culturally diverse worship experience there. It was nice to spend the day with friends who are like family to me. I am grateful for the time God has given me here.

I also look forward to the time I tell the children at the orphanage about God's love, about our heavenly Daddy and His faithfulness. I pray that time would come soon.