This blog is coming a little late as Easter was a week ago. But it has taken me this week to reflect on all that Easter means to me. As a survivor of a pain-filled childhood, an offender of every rule in the book, and most importantly, as a girl saved by grace, you can imagine how this celebration affects me. I recently watched the movie, The Passion of the Christ, again. I sat anxiously as Jesus labored in the garden of Gethsamane, knowing what God had planned for the coming day. I wept as I watched the Romans violently beat Jesus and I felt sick as I saw Jesus struggle to carry His cross to Calvary with the crowd jeering and spitting on Him. I couldn't watch the screen as the guard hammered the nails into his hands and feet, but I heard the strike of the mallet on each nail. I cried tears of joy as He overpowered death and was ressurected. Afterwards, I sat numb. The sacrifice He made for me weighed on my heart. I realized that I spend most of the days of the year zipping through life, but it is on this day that I stop... think...and pray fervently to the Lord of my gratitude for Jesus sacrifice on the cross. I am a free woman today, broken from the chains of sin, shame, and regret. All because of the love of God, a God who knows my inner most being, yet loves me despite myself. My victory comes with knowing that Jesus over came death on the cross and on the third day, just as He promised, He defied death and rose from the grave. An act that secures my place in eternity. My question is as much for me as it is for you. Do we live each day with the same devotion and gratitude that we pour out each Easter? Or do we save it for that "one day"? Jesus had one life and He gave it for us - we did not deserve it, but He did it because He loves us. The power of one day...and one life should be something we acknowledge more than once a year, it should be something we live out every day. I am going to try, how about you?
