Easter is Always On Sunday...

                                                                  For six weeks I have packed boxes,

sorted through family memories... wondered at moments if I would survive the ensuing days and weeks.

Emotions rose at times that made me doubt myself, my motives, my choices.
Boxes were unpacked, homes set up, new opportunities and relationships thought of... by a heart in search of community. 

This weekend our new normal began and
I am abundantly grateful.

 I see God's providence through this challenge and journey.

Providence - The protective care of God.

I recognize the grace and mercy God shows His children, undeserved and many times accepted as luck, deserved, or simply ignored.

Last week I witnessed things that remind me of our lack of gratitude, our sin, our foolishness.

We are all guilty of it. 

Raising my hand.

I had a conversation with a stranger, which quickly went to a Christian denomination and why they are "mostly fake, no good phonies."
 I was speechless.
These phonies are some of my best friends.

I am not of this denomination and I disagree with this person's view.

What I heard was ignorance, passed down from his father to him, and now to his son.

Three generations of family whose ears will take this in, process it and choose to accept or not.

Where will it end?

Later that day...

 in Target buying a rug for our sweet little apartment.

I pictured the hubs and I sitting on our covered deck, rug under foot, talking over our day, sun setting in the Kansas sky.

You can't really do this after May 1st because your body will explode due to that same Kansas sun.

But... I had a picture in my mind and it was good. 

In reality we will be inside, shades drawn, watching Modern Family re-runs.

What I witnessed...

Walking down the aisle I heard a woman's voice calling someone stupid.
It was loud and the word sounded ugly.
My first thought, she was calling her child stupid. 

I am not sure why, but it had that sound... a mom, annoyed, reacting in a bad way.
 I came around the corner and spotted her.

A very pregnant woman on her phone.

She continued her dialogue, loud and oblivious to those around her.

"They should not have been allowed to have a girl!"

 I will not quote the words she spewed, sharing her thoughts on the woman's sexuality.

 I was stunned.

Sad.

I drove home.

I came up behind a car driving slowly.

I passed the car and looked over.

It was a woman, about 30.

Bent over the steering wheel, holding her phone out, screaming... her face red with anger.

  Ugh, this made me sad.
Who was on the other end, her husband, a child, or maybe Comcast... where this would be totally acceptable conduct.

The next day I went to another Target in town.

Don't judge. I needed another rug.

 As I walked to the register the young man looked at me and said,

"Is tomorrow Easter?!"

I said, "No, tomorrow is Tuesday"

He said," Yes, but is it Easter?"

I said, "No, It's Tuesday. Easter is a Christian holiday that is always on a Sunday."

He seemed to come back from wherever he had been and said, "Right, I know that. I go to church."

We laughed and I said, "Okay, good."

It was a strange moment.

It made me wonder...

How have we become so out of touch with our Creator?

We have exchanged God for the foolishness of ourselves.

We are hateful, angry, full of condemnation for one another...

and sometimes we forget to celebrate Jesus death and resurrection... and does it really matter?
Maybe it's just another celebration... of ourselves.

There is a better way to live.

In Christ.

"And what does the Lord require of you? 
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8


These people I write of... I may not share their beliefs or words, yet I am prideful, arrogant, selfish. I raise my hand in guilt.
I am them.


 I go back to God's providence.  His protective care of my life.
His love for me...
LOVE.
I hold myself accountable to His word. 
I desire to live as He taught me, as He showed me.
This week I am reminded of the gift He gave by sending His one and only Son....
for me, for you, for all.

The protective care of God is available every moment of our lives.
No matter the struggle we face.
He faced the ultimate struggle and gave Himself up, for us.
Enjoy that freedom and share it.

 If we practiced love, mercy, justice and humbleness...
Who knows.

Happy Easter.... It's Sunday.