Easter – from sorrow to new life

April 23, 2011 in: Devotions

Deep in the human heart lives the hope for a new beginning.

The desire is echoed in the rhythm of nature. Each morning, the sun rises on a new day. After a long winter, tulips emerge, the grass turns green and spring offers the earth a fresh start. Today, we celebrate the promise of new life. Good Friday is the most sorrowful day on the Christian calendar, but it is closely followed by Easter Sunday, the most joyful.

The message of the resurrection is so powerful because it resonates with our strongest longings. Anyone who has stood at the grave of a loved one has hoped that there may be something more. A broken relationship, a job loss, a dream that has withered – many are the disappointments that make us wish for a new beginning.

That’s why there is hope in the cross. Even though it symbolizes a painful death, it makes possible new life, because Jesus Christ conquered death and made the ultimate fresh start by rising from the grave. That is certainly something to shout about this Easter.

We can all find hope this spring that cold winters make flowers bloom brighter and sunshine feel that much warmer; that dead ends give way to new possibilities; that the best is yet to be.

“Behold, I make all things news,” Jesus Christ told us.

Happy Easter. May this be a day of new beginnings for you.