Easter through Abby's Eyes

“He’s dead, He’s dead” Abby repeated over and over when she saw the crosses I brought for her to color. Each repetition she furrowed her eyebrows and genuinely looked distraught. What does that really mean to her I wondered? Where could she have seen or experienced the challenging concept of death, that she seemed to be affected by the sadness of it all?

A moment later, it occurred to me: worms! This spring Abby has spotted a number of dead, flattened, shriveled and dried up worms on our sidewalks. The first ones she saw were terrifying to her, not because they were dead, but precisely because she did not understand that dead meant the worm could not come and get her. It was only after conversations about death (and the general goodness of worms anyway) that she started warming up to them.

This seemed like a wellspring of interesting Easter thoughts.

1. On Good Friday, Jesus is as dead as a dried up worm on the sidewalk.

2. If Jesus is still dead, than he can’t get me.

3. If Jesus can get me, than it means I might have to live differently… like…

a. Give up worrying about where we will live next year.

b. Stop stressing about raising a boy after loving my girl experience.

c. Learn how to let go of my anger instead of feeling justified in it.

d. See more grace in all the people around me.

4. This is terrifying.

It is so bizarre that these are terrifying thoughts. To let Jesus “get me” would actually mean finding trust, rest, peace and the mercy of grace for others and myself. The terrifying part then, must be the change. It is easier to live with the thought patterns and reality I have built for myself than to let myself “be gotten” by God’s reality and kingdom.

Thankfully, Jesus is infinitely more persistent and patient than I can imagine.

Thankfully Easter is only one day away.