Easter 2020

Easter season turns my eyes Heavenward. My stillborn daughter, my mom, my grandmother (her mother) and my grandfather (her father) all left earth in past years at this time. This year, my dad passed away just before Christmas and will spend Easter with them. There will be many who will not spend Easter with family this year. Some, because they have recently lost someone they love, be it to COVID-19 or something else. Some, because they are in quarantine or in isolation in a hospital bed. Some because they are staffing the hospitals, police stations, and emergency rooms. Others could gather but they will not, in an effort to slow the spread of our current pandemic and protect the very ones they hope to spend next Easter with. Whether in isolation, or in an acceptable social distancing number, how I pray we would spend Easter with the Savior whose death and resurrection we celebrate. May we agonize as He did in the Garden of Gethsemane over the weight of our sin, because it is weighty. May we understand that His ability to perfectly atone for our sin, did not make it any less painful for Him. And should we face moments of seeming darkness or abandonment, may we do what those women who felt abandoned did, returning to Him even when we do not know who would roll the stone away. May He open our eyes that we might see, indeed the stone has been rolled away; He is nearer than we think to know. May we do what they did with the knowledge of His resurrection. Rejoice! Stand in awe. Believe the unbelievable. May His joy be greater than our sorrow, His comfort stronger than our pain. May His promises be surer than our desire to make sense of things, and His love more satisfying than the emptiness we are bound to feel. COVID-19 has a way of making me realize just how big I have made the small stuff. Sure, I am worried about the health of the people I love. Yes, I am finding out that basic paper product use might require Plan B for our household. But this is small in light of the great news that Christ has come and offers eternal life to those who trust Him. We may cry tears here, we may run out of kleenex. But in the end, those who know Him will rejoice...and that forever and ever. May this be our hope. Always. Because through it all....

One Hill Stands.