easter

He is Risen.

Easter: rebirth, renewal, resurrection - an opportunity to soften, to shed our skin, to blossom, and to grow.

1 Corinthians 15 - 12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

my easter was peaceful and relaxed. i spent it alone, in the calm of my apartment. i watched march madness and andy stanley videos from past easters on the essential-ness of the resurrection with the faith, how we can't cherry-pick from the new testament when the storytellers are telling the whole story, and how the renewal of spring is the center of the testimony. 

it was lightly raining outside, the skies were grey, but calming. i lit incense and candles, i brewed lake michigan coffee in my french press, i finished books i had checked out from the library months ago. i did puzzles and listened to bethel, hillsong, and rend collective. i ate green olives and avocados (green for rebirth and new life). i sipped slowly and intentionally. i ate slowly and intentionally. i let my thoughts wander from light shining in darkness to flowers blooming outside on the trees. from how this wasn't my ideal easter sunday, but how maybe it was what my heart and soul needed. time alone, this rejuvenation and growth from within and with the Lord. from thoughts of the future months, to dwelling on the past. to recognizing the growth of the present moment. i've become quite content alone with myself and my whirling thoughts. 

i hope this is the only easter i spend this way. alone. with grey skies and rain falling. i hope my future easters are more like past easters: spent with friends and family, worshiping in community, eating in community, thriving in community. i hope we break bread together, laugh together, be together. but what i realized yesterday, is how i do alone pretty well. there are things i miss, things i moan to friends about, little nuances of loneliness. but when i curl up in bed with my lamp and candles burning. once i claw through the shroud of loneliness (and how society makes me feel bad about feeling lonely), i cling to the connections i do make in that time. 

He is Risen, indeed.