New Beginnings

Easter Monday feels like a new beginning to me.  Lent is over, so most everyone who gave something up is happy to be "back to normal". All the planning for the Easter celebrations are over and He has RISEN!  It is all back to normal today...Easter Monday. 

It felt fitting to have John 1 as my reading today.  In the beginning...but what are we beginning? Each day is a new beginning for us to die to ourselves and be made new again in Jesus...yeah, that is what we do ... or are supposed to do.  But what is it to be made new in Him. 

I think of this Spring season and the transformation from the deadness of Winter...trees that are barren and grass that is lackluster.  Flower beds with dead leaves gathering in the corner.  All this gives way to a gradual "brightening".  Dead leaves get swept up, trees magically bud and bloom, the grass amazingly turns a vibrant green...even dandilions brighten things up!  And the fields are freshly plowed...with much labor and effort, the rich soil that was hidden now becomes a lush carpet waiting for seeds to be sown and flourish to harvest.  This is new life.  Everything thriving together...each in it's own way, but all coming together for this finely tuned performance called SPRING! 

Everything seems brand new and as I walk through each day, I am thankful for new beginnings.  That is the power and the real meaning of Easter.  No matter how badly I screwed up today, I am washed clean and I am forgiven.  No matter how big the sin, GONE.  Never to be remembered again.  Put yesterday behind you...put today behind you and together with Jesus, embrace this moment.  Let Him live in you.  He is the the light.  I thank God for new beginnings and I pray for a SPRING-like transformation for us all today.

Betsy