Happy Easter friends! Two posts in one weekend? So crazy. I just wanted to celebrate in the joy of Easter with you today with a poem.
Imagine…
Imagine being one of Jesus’ followers during His crucifixion and passion. Being riddled with fear of persecution, seeing the only innocent man to walk this earth be defiled, to see your friend making the ultimate sacrifice so you in your sin can have eternity with Him. The disciples were overwhelmed with a cacophony of emotions. And Peter, who denied Jesus three times is just like us. So many of us deny, or hide, or alter, or suppress our faith in difficult situations. I hid Jesus so deep within me that the people closest to me didn’t even know the greatest thing within me. He was not ashamed of us in our brokenness and sin so why should we be ashamed of Him? We are Peter. And it’s not a bad thing, it’s a human thing and it’s why Jesus needed to come. We have a heart condition that desperately needed a remedy. And Jesus healed it at the root from the inside out.
Jesus was the answer we didn’t know we needed. We had prophecy as precedence and Him in the flesh challenged everything we knew and transformed our lives. But we still didn’t know what to expect. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was the most incredible thing. The most beautiful gift that we did not deserve. Jesus taught us how to live. He showed us how to love. He was GRACE on that cross and I can’t even put into words how incredibly awe-inspiring that is. I just have so much gratitude in my life for Him because the cross and resurrection make everything so clear.
So What?
So what do I mean exactly? Live for God. There’s nothing else. If He thought my life was worth leaving Paradise for, suffering on this broken earth for, and dying for–if I still have breath in my lungs–why am I not living for Christ? My life is His. His heart for us is impossible to comprehend. It is self-sacrificial, all consuming, chain-breaking, trajectory-changing, love. He would leave Heaven for me. He would move mountains for just one of His children. He did this for you and for me. He deserves my all and is worthy of it all. Re-walking the passion and resurrection shifts your perspective. You can’t help but grieve with Jesus. You can’t help but think of how unworthy you are. And yet He did this for you and for me. And that is such a blessing, such a gift, and a testament of His Holy heart.
Happy Easter, friend!
Risen Something was stirring, the world went unknowing. God’s promise yet fulfilled. Only Heaven was knowing. Up before day’s first inkling of light, the woman went to the garden, she went to the tomb. She recalled her teacher, she recalled her friend: grief stricken, end written, veil torn, it was finished. There was something peculiar about the tomb that day. Stone rolled away, hope oozing into the day. The woman looked up only to fall to her knees. Weeping– fearing the worst. Forgetting the sacred promises made. Linens folded. Tomb standing empty, full of promise in that garden. Then in the waning darkness, the rising Son illuminated the earth in a radiant roar. Changing our trajectory, fulfilling all prophecy. The greatest gift The greatest love The greatest sacrifice Has made me whole. Jesus awakened my soul. ~AnnaLisa Hutchinson
