happy easter!

as a little girl one of my favorite parts of easter was the easter outfit. this picture was taken on easter sunday 1965. i had on my new easter dress with the stiff crinoline lining, flower hat, white gloves and white patent shoes. i remember waiting for daddy to come out for this picture and twirling. and twirling. and being delighted at having a special daddy and a twirly dress.

easter is my absolute favorite holiday. i still love the easter dress. but i adore a Risen Jesus!

what a Special Daddy we have! what a shocking, crazy way to love us.

happy, happy easter!

good but hard friday, harder saturday

saturday. a day of rest. the Sabbath.

the Sabbath was designed by God to remind of us on our dependence and rest in Him.

that saturday, 1 day after Jesus died, the day He lay still and cold in a tomb, must have been unbelievably hard for His family, His friends.

they must have struggled to remember each word He spoke, like sorting through a massive jigsaw puzzle and trying to understand how they go together. and then discovering this horrible shaped piece, this crucified and dead piece, how does that fit in?

the presence of His absence must have been overwhelming.

how difficult to grieve for Him but also to be so at a loss to understand.

how hard to rest and trust, to Sabbath.

and how very much like our lives. we struggle to make sense of what happens in our lives and just like the first disciples and friends of Jesus what we need is not fuller knowledge but fuller trust.

Easter is at work in the darkness, in the grave, in what appears to be dead and hopeless. the beauty of redemption lays hidden, waiting to explode in it’s Easter glory.