It’s ok to admit many of you are disappointed that Easter won’t be much like it has been in years past. Those that are vulnerable to COVID-19 will have to remain isolated. Some of us are on lockdown anyway. And then some of us can gather in a small group but we are weighed down by the guilt of having to only pick select few.
You may be thinking a lot about what should have been. But what if I told you that even the ultimate Easter family celebration is in fact just a taste of a greater celebration soon to come.
We hear a lot about midlife crisis. That half way point in our lives when we realize we’re half way to the finish line of life. I’m not there yet, but I am at a difficult stage in my life where my husband and I are watching our parents prepare for retirement knowing the finish line comes soon after.
When I see the excitement in my mom’s eyes when she sees her grandchildren learning new things- I can’t help but feel so teased. She is often seeing these things through a pre-recorded video or through a video call. In an ideal world, she would live next door and be capable of coming over anytime she wanted. But this is not the case.
But what if those moments we wanted to last forever… What if they were waiting for us in a perfect world? What if the point of life wasn’t to feel tortured when knowing life doesn’t go as planned. Or tortured when experiencing life going better than planned but knowing this moment will pass.
I believe that this world is not the one we were meant to grow attached to. But in fact, there is a perfect world where things like COVID-19 can’t keep us apart. Those moments that make life worth living, are infact moments meant to remind us of what’s waiting on the other side of the finish line.
Every single moment you wish could last forever was meant to… In heaven. In eternity. The good news of Easter is that God didn’t want heaven without us. He knew we were messy people and still are. So he made a way for us to get to our real home, where we can be at peace.
A home where we can gather with friends and family without fear of gossip, rude remarks or fighting. We can hold a loved one in our arms and know that we never ever have to say a real goodbye.
This is a world where we can love without fear. A world where we don’t have to question loyalty. A world we don’t deserve but God wants us there anyway.
This is the message of Easter. A message of hope that Jesus Christ saw how imperfect we were. He saw that we would never measure up to the perfection needed to make it into heaven. So he lived a perfect life and was crucified.
He was crucified next to criminals. He was executed after keeping the law. All so that we wouldn’t have to pay that price ourselves for breaking laws.
Now death won’t end in the grave. He died and rose again to show us what we have coming in our future. Closing our eyes to an imperfect world and opening them to a perfect one.
So this Easter weekend, there is hope. You can be expectant.
