Spring is, quite literally, the season of new beginnings – flowers are in bloom, animals come out of hibernation, and the warmth of the sun touches the soil to nourish life. The shift of the earth displays what human nature itself is capable of – to come back to life, even after death. None other manifests this narrative more deeply than the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

The celebration of Easter keeps us grounded in the greatest hope of all. In this story we know that the ultimate battle has already been won on our behalf. And furthermore, we can understand that we are called to participate in a similar resurrection in our own life – that we get to come back to life too. In the sense of eternity, we will celebrate this truth in heaven. But even in the finite sense of human existence, this is a pattern that we get to live as many times as our years will call us to strengthen through. 

Every human will face the experience of death and some experience it more than once. We personally know and serve a group of people that arguably face this before the grave at a depth that most others will never grasp, let alone be equipped to handle. The dying of self-identity that comes from losing a limb might be one of the most painful of all, as it causes one to lose all that they think they are. Yet the real Easter story reminds us that death is not an end, as much as we may grieve and wrestle it to be. Death, in relationship with the Creator of the universe, is actually just the beginning. And oh, how we celebrate that!