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Happy Easter

I Love Easter for so many reasons.

As a child I loved it because it was the begining of a new time. The winter was over and the world was coming to life again. Even in the desert there are a subtle changes between winter and spring. The signs of change weren't just left to the landscape and the weather. Every year I got to purchase a new dress and some shoes.

As an adult I love this time of year because I have a deeper knowledge of why Easter is spiritually important. This is the second Spring I have experienced in my home in the east and yet the new-ness of spring is just as exciting...

The trees outside only 4 weeks ago looked dead and lifeless without their leaves.

Those beautiful flowers I posted three days ago were non-existent a month ago. The ground where they now are firmly planted was nothing...literally, nothing but dirt. I had forgotten they had been there last year.

Which is why I love Easter...because it is a celebration of Christ. Who chose to die on the cross to save me from the certainty of death. Going from winter to spring reminds me that there will be a time when i am no longer alive in this world, but will arrive in Heaven like the glory of spring time.

But, in the meantime, he has made me new right now in this place. I no longer have to be bound in those things that so easily bind me. I can be free like those emerging Iris buds....one morning they are wound tight in a bud that couldn't be pried open if I used my own hands, but when the time is right it springs open. Free and beautiful.

I love Easter because Christ didn't do this just for me; but for anyone who believed that God sent Him. We need only to admit that we need Him and invite Him into our lives.

You can be new too.

What I love the most about springtime and Easter time is that it gives us insight into who God is and why we can trust Him: He isn't flashy. He isn't loud. He is majestic. He is real. He is fragrant. He is approachable. He is trustworthy. He has a plan. His timing is perfect. He is stong, yet He is gentle.

He cares for me. He cares for you. (1 Peter 5.7)

He makes us new.

There is a song by Bethany Dillon that is my favorite right now I wish you could hear it instead of just read it but if you want to hear a bit of it you can go to www.bethanydillon.com to listen to it:

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What is this sun that conquers mountains

Singing over what has been asleep?

What is it that softens all my doubting?

It’s You

Morning brings a hunger for new eyes

That have been covered by the hurt of yesterday

Who could create in me the vision of a little child?

It’s You

You take an ordinary day

And turn it into flowers like the month of May

Yes, You do

And You see all my pain

And cry over it for hours till I’m new again

Yes, You do

When I have been the victim of familiarity

When my heart has fallen into sleep

Healing is the voice that awakens me

And it is You

You,

You make me new…

With love,

Kellie

P.S. Now would be the time to tell you that i I also love Easter because of chocolate bunnies. Oh, and also Peeps. Stale Peeps. As a kid my Mom would open them when she bought them and let them get hard so on Easter morning they would be not new....but old...and hard! Just the way I like them! Yummy!