14 For He Himself is our peace…. Ephesians 4:14 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
I’ll bet you’re familiar with the warm feeling you get in your heart when December arrives and Christmas is approaching. Being in the “Christmas spirit” is pretty much universal. But the older I get, the more I’m feeling a new emotion. I have a wonderful feeling in my heart as Easter approaches. I guess you could call it, “The Easter Spirit.”
Easter time is beautiful in Mississippi. I think if I woke up from a coma and didn’t have a calendar, I’d still be able to tell when it was getting close to Easter. The sky is bluer, and the air is sweeter. The days are brighter, and the trees and flowerbeds are indescribably colorful. It all gives me a feeling of longing in my heart, an emotion that’s almost painful; I’m longing for Easter.
So, why do I have this tinge of sadness in my spirit? After all, Easter is a thing of beauty. We celebrate with things that are clean and new, colorful and bright. It’s a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a celebration of the fact that we will all be raised to life on the last day.
I guess the pain comes from the fact that you can’t have Easter if you don’t have Good Friday first. It was Jesus’ death on Calvary that made the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life possible. And it’s a little sad to realize that, while Jesus was raised after 3 days in the tomb, it’s not the right time for our loved ones to be raised. We have to trust in the Lord Jesus as we patiently wait.
Yet and still, I’m in love with this feeling of Easter deep in my heart. And I plan on keeping it, even though it’s bittersweet. On the Day of Resurrection, I know the Lord is going to make things new. Then the bitterness will be gone.
And when it’s Easter forever, all of eternity will be sweet…
Have a wonderful Holy Week.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 32 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He recently retired after 28 years as a Mississippi public schoolteacher, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his new grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in a brick house in town (where the Preacher and his wife will have a houseful of company this week.) Their kids include Spencer (age 26), his wife Madeline (age 26), and Seth (23), and his wife Leanne (age 22). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
