I am blessed. You are blessed. That's just a fact. We can run from it, throw dirt at it, enjoy it, bathe in it. It's totally up to us. But the deal is EASTER IS A FACT.
I love EASTER. It changes everything!
Every year, we Crouches blow out eggs and dye them. I keep them and decorate!
Remember my children as splattered happy faces, as dreamers, as more skilled designers, as reluctant then happy easter egg dye factories.
We haven't died eggs this year. We're so so so busy, I don't know if we will. That's a bit sad for me and can send me into a gray zone.
But I am still blessed. EASTER IS A FACT.
It's like this. The light came streaming through the window a couple a days ago and lit up my little thrown together display.
The lamb was from Gail on a trip to Virginia.
The basket from my mom. The blessed sign is a mystery!
The hurricane vase from my sweet husband. The Easter eggs from my family.
It's been this way for a month maybe. I like looking at it. Sometimes I ignore it. Whether I look at it or not doesn't change the fact that those items are mine... given to me to be enjoyed.
Some days are gray and depressing. The gifts don't look as pretty somehow.
BUT THE LIGHT! EASTER! IT CHANGES EVERY BLADE OF GRASS!
THE LAMB! Sacrificed.
EASTER! FACT. A resurrection that some would deny because it doesn't make sense, makes their wine a little bitter, makes their unanswered prayers make sense.... "If Jesus never rose then the fact that he didn't do what I ask (didn't obey me) works out for me. "
But He did. Whether I agree with His decisions or not changes as I get closer to realizing just how powerful his love is. Some of the hugest "no's" have become the brightest "yes's" to something better as I waited, cried, saw things die. Then He brought those dreams to resurrected, changed, life! Not what I thought He would do. BETTER!
Some days, this is all crystal clear.
I will stop and look hard when that happens. I will notice the leaves on the basket, even the shadow play on the wall. Brandish it on my retina so that I can remember how much difference the Light makes.
Your boasting (about accepting immorality within the church) is not good. (Hmmmm... not very politically correct. But that's not where I'm going. I'm not to judge those outside the body according to the rest of the chapter. But this is talking about my family.) Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast ( ...so I immediately feel guilty and view my mental playback video of the areas of yeast I need to work on so that "I might please God with my excellent Christian behavior"), so that you may be a new unleavened batch (at least it's possible)
—as you really are. (WHOAH! WAIT! WHAT WAS THAT!!!!????)
I didn't make that up. That's what it says. Here we are messing up big time and letting yeast infect bread that was made to last the journey instead of molding and rotting. HOW CAN HE SAY THAT'S HOW WE REALLY ARE? I seriously wonder if there's a typo here. And then I read the next words.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
...who I really am is a fact because I have believed on His name. This is how He sees me. That blows me away. The sacrifice I feel I have to make to be accepted is a lie. He's the one who made the sacrifice. Sure there's some work I need to do, but what's my little penny in the pond compared to that thing He did on the cross.
8Therefore let us keep the Festival (CELEBRATE!), not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
May you celebrate Easter the way I plan to.... AS YOU REALLY ARE!
love, Lydia
©2014 Lydia D. Crouch
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