It's Easter Sunday and we are sitting quietly following a very simple but enlightening Sunrise Service. No big fanfare, but rather quiet peace.
Before Joshua died, I looked at Easter as a joyful time with our children. Dying eggs, preparing a special Easter meal, enjoying the huge smiles as the kids discovered their baskets filled with candy and trinkets. Oh, those giggles.....and little feet scurrying around the house searching for Easter eggs. Moments of Joy!
After Joshua died, I began to look at Easter from a mother's perspective....from one mother who had lost her child to another. We all are taught that Jesus was born of a the Virgin Mary, but I think we sometimes forget that Mary became a mom of a son she loved, nurtured, guided, and protected.
Even though she knew her son was the Son Of God and would have a mission to fulfill, it couldn't be easy as His mother. The heckling, name calling, the abuses. Oh how fervently she must have prayed for his safety.
Mary loved her son for 33 years when the day arrived that she had been dreading. For several hours she watched helplessly as her sweet son was unjustly judged by the leaders of the church she had known her whole life. These supposed leaders of the church allowed her son to be beaten to near unconsciousness. As a mother I can imagine how she would gladly take the beatings for him.....her love for him is so strong. She would gladly cover him, do whatever it took to make the pain go away, but she can't.
Her son is ordered to carry an incredibly heavy wooden cross, bearing the weight against his freshly torn flesh. He stumbles to the ground, his body exhausted. A large man named Simon takes this burden from her sweet boy. Oh, the relief!
A top a barren hilltop, where He is left to hang attached by His own hands and feet in the scorching sun and he is visibly suffering, she can do nothing for him.
He looks at her with complete love and speaks to her one more time; what a gift to have loving final words with your child though how heart wrenching. He looks to the heavens and declares "It Is Done!" Her tears come without restraint and the strange noises she hears are her own cries of grief. Her son is dead!
She meticulously helps prepare his broken body and lays him softly to rest even as her heart has given up.
For three days she is inconsolable. Don't they understand? HER SON IS DEAD! She knows it is for the good of the world, but at this very moment all she knows is her heart aches.
Then on third day, she gets the gift so many of us wish we were to receive....She gets to see her son one more time and He is at Peace! He is at Peace....can you imagine? She gets to see that His Life made such a difference, and she sees that He is going to heaven. Oh the Joy!
This brings a tear to my eye and a moment of Peace in my heart because I know I am the reason Jesus went through so much. I know I will one day meet Joshua at gate and he will grab me by the hand and say, "C'mon Mom, I want you to meet the One who has been taking such good care of me. His name is Jesus".
Because HE Lives, I CAN Face Tomorrow.
Happy Easter!
Hugs,
Sherri
Before Joshua died, I looked at Easter as a joyful time with our children. Dying eggs, preparing a special Easter meal, enjoying the huge smiles as the kids discovered their baskets filled with candy and trinkets. Oh, those giggles.....and little feet scurrying around the house searching for Easter eggs. Moments of Joy!
After Joshua died, I began to look at Easter from a mother's perspective....from one mother who had lost her child to another. We all are taught that Jesus was born of a the Virgin Mary, but I think we sometimes forget that Mary became a mom of a son she loved, nurtured, guided, and protected.
Even though she knew her son was the Son Of God and would have a mission to fulfill, it couldn't be easy as His mother. The heckling, name calling, the abuses. Oh how fervently she must have prayed for his safety.
Mary loved her son for 33 years when the day arrived that she had been dreading. For several hours she watched helplessly as her sweet son was unjustly judged by the leaders of the church she had known her whole life. These supposed leaders of the church allowed her son to be beaten to near unconsciousness. As a mother I can imagine how she would gladly take the beatings for him.....her love for him is so strong. She would gladly cover him, do whatever it took to make the pain go away, but she can't.
Her son is ordered to carry an incredibly heavy wooden cross, bearing the weight against his freshly torn flesh. He stumbles to the ground, his body exhausted. A large man named Simon takes this burden from her sweet boy. Oh, the relief!
A top a barren hilltop, where He is left to hang attached by His own hands and feet in the scorching sun and he is visibly suffering, she can do nothing for him.
He looks at her with complete love and speaks to her one more time; what a gift to have loving final words with your child though how heart wrenching. He looks to the heavens and declares "It Is Done!" Her tears come without restraint and the strange noises she hears are her own cries of grief. Her son is dead!
She meticulously helps prepare his broken body and lays him softly to rest even as her heart has given up.
For three days she is inconsolable. Don't they understand? HER SON IS DEAD! She knows it is for the good of the world, but at this very moment all she knows is her heart aches.
Then on third day, she gets the gift so many of us wish we were to receive....She gets to see her son one more time and He is at Peace! He is at Peace....can you imagine? She gets to see that His Life made such a difference, and she sees that He is going to heaven. Oh the Joy!
Because HE Lives, I CAN Face Tomorrow.
Happy Easter!
Hugs,
Sherri
Beautiful TRUTH, Sherri!
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