Flowers are beginning to bud and bloom. Leaves are beginning to turn our hillsides green. The long winter is over and nature once again, as reliably as ever, keeps its promises to us.
It is Easter Sunday, a time when new life has special meaning for those of the Christian faith. Today we celebrate the fact that as surely as spring follows winter, we can count on everlasting life.
Christians live according to a promise made more than 2,000 years ago. During his time on earth, Christ made the promise that those of the faith would join him in Heaven.
He was crucified, was dead, and was interred. Then, on the first Easter, Christ arose from the dead - providing validation of His promise.
Of the two major religious observances celebrated by Christians, Christmas is, in many respects, the more extravagant. It represents God keeping his promise to send a Messiah to us.
Easter has tended to be more low-key and that, in a way, is appropriate. The lack of hustle and bustle today gives us time to reflect on the meaning of the day.
It is quite simple: He is risen. The promise has been kept. And that, for Christians, means assurance that while winter will come, an eternal spring most assuredly will follow.
