Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” – John 20:14-16
Whenever the topic of resurrection comes up I can’t help but think about our home. Not just the restoration of a decrepit 150-year-old structure but the re-creation that is underway in the garden too.
The need for new life was startlingly obvious when we first saw our house – and the garden just as much if not more so.
So this is a good time for Rebekah and I to practice our tradition for the end of Holy Week. The idea is to respond to the solemnity and sadness associated with Christ’s death by working on the miracle of creation in our garden.
This year we have a complete front yard tear-out scheduled in the next week or two, so we limited ourselves to a little transplanting and some new potted plants that will go in the ground after the work is completed.
Then it was all weeding and watering and mowing and trying to get everything looking good for Easter Sunday. Even the little we achieved went a long way in terms of illustrating the Easter story.
The bottom line is that life is irrepressible, that creation is God’s ongoing initiative rooted in love, and that we were not created merely for this world but for eternity.
Life is irrepressible, creation is God’s ongoing initiative rooted in love, and we have been created for eternity!
Because of Easter we now live in a new story. It’s the Greatest Story Ever Told and we are a part of it. That’s what is so amazing! The New Creation Story is not just one we hear about as spectators, it is a story we are invited to live in and to live from.
I love the story I am living in!
Our story is resurrection! Our story is new life! Our story is victory! Our story is just getting started!
Do you believe it? Even if your life has been a series of defeats and disappointments, and you have lost touch with your hope…. Easter is God’s invitation into a new story.
It is like the springtime of the soul, and there is nothing that is more powerful – DEREK
Even if you have lost touch with your hope – Easter is God’s invitation into a new story!
