Blessed Easter to you all!

In case I'm not back on before Easter, I just want to wish each of you a blessed Easter. I love the pretty colors, the wonderfully sweet looks of all things spring and the yumminess of Easter treats, but I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you why I love Easter most. If it weren't for Easter, life would be all for naught. Some days life here can be GREAT, but other times, it really stinks. From little inconveniences of lice and kidney stones to major suffering in my friend who have or have had cancer to the worst pain of losing someone you love, life is hard. Easter gives us hope. Not just the hope that tomorrow the cancer will be gone (though we do pray for that!) or that we'll have enough money in the bank to pay the bills (again, we pray for that and do our job to work for it), but a hope that is deeper still. It's the hope that when this life is done, we can say good-bye forever to pain, suffering, and even little inconveniences.

That hope isn't just a wishful thought. It isn't a magic formula, either. It's a hope in Somoene. It's trusting Someone who promised it to us.

The problem is, we don't deserve it. No matter how good we are, now matter how much we do to help others or live the right way, we are NEVER good enough. Ever. What we deserve is to be separated from God forever because HE is perfect & we aren't. Yet, in His love for us, He reached out & let Someone else take our punishment. Imagine being a child & knowing you broke your mom's favorite vase because you threw a ball in the house when you weren't supposed to be doing that. Imagine that your mom grounded you and said you would spend the next month's allowance to pay for that vase. Then imagine a friend stepping in and saying, "I'd like to pay for the vase and I'd like to be grounded instead." All you would have to do is accept that gift and your payment was paid in full. That's what God wants us to do. He wants us to know that we don't deserve anything but a death sentence, but His OWN SON took our place and died for us. Then He came back to life to give us hope that we, too, could be with Him one day if we just trust in His gift.

I'm not a "preacher" and I don't like to "beat the Bible over someone's head." The truth is, though, that I love my friends and family so dearly that I want to spend not just THIS life with them, but all of eternity. It would break my heart to know that I might not see them again when this world is through. And for those who already know Jesus, I can hardly wait until we celebrate Him together in Heaven!

Happy Easter---Happy Resurrection Day---to all of you!