reflections on a stripped down Easter...

This year Easter was drastically different than it has ever been. It was completely stripped down. We weren't distracted with fancy clothes, good impressions, extravagant dinners, egg hunts or the large celebratory gatherings we have grown accustom to over the years.

So what were we left with? 

The true Reason for Easter, Christ Himself. 

I almost wonder if that was God's way of freeing up our minds to fully focus on Him & what Jesus accomplished both on the cross & with His resurrection from the grave. With unobstructed reflection we could concentrate on the gift of God, our salvation, & how we have been saved by grace through faith. I find myself increasingly humbled by this gift of grace. To know that I was dead in my sin & without hope & yet God in His infinite mercy & great love saw fit to fulfill my greatest need. To know without a doubt that there is nothing I could ever do to earn this gift & yet I am secure solely because of Jesus' payment for my sin gives me great peace & joy. My greatest hope comes from Him alone. 

Today Jenny sent me a quote by Bill Gates about the global pandemic we are living in:

When you go out and see the empty streets, the empty stadiums, the empty train platforms, don't say to yourself, "My God, it looks like the end of the world."

What you're seeing is love in action.

What you're seeing, in that negative space, is how much we do care for each other, for our grandparents, for our immuno-compromised brothers and sisters, for people we will never meet.

People will lose jobs over this. Some will lose their businesses. And some will lose their lives.

All the more reason to take a moment, when you're out on your walk, on your way to the store, or just watching the news, to look into the emptiness and marvel at all that love.

Let it fill you and sustain you. It isn't the end of the world. It's the most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness.

It is the reason the world will go on.

Bill Gates

This is an incredible perspective to have on what is a scary reality in our world today. Forever an optimist it is also how I try to look at the world - albeit with far better wording. 

And I know it is not what Bill Gates had in mind when he wrote it but it made me think of Jesus' death. We have the benefit of the Bible & know how the story ends but before the resurrection when Jesus' followers saw Him suffering on the cross, when He actually died & was buried it must have seemed like all hope was completely lost. A profound illustration of negative space. And yet we can look at what Christ accomplished & say - "What you are seeing is love in action." 

Jesus lost His life. For us. The tomb is empty- He rose from the grave & conquered death. For us. 

And because of this I agree with Bill Gates, "All the more reason to take a moment, when you're out on your walk, on your way to the store, or just watching the news, to look into the emptiness and marvel at all that love."

Because He cares for us. Let Him fill you & sustain you. Because it wasn't the end of the world. It is the reason that that world can have life & life more abundantly through Him.