New Growth, New Songs, New Adventures

In honor of Easter, I am going to blog today, Thursday and Friday!




My living room has a tall ceiling and a half moon window that lets in the sun each morning. Today I sat on my couch and looked through it. Behind the branches of the big tree outside lay nothing but azure blue sky. A beautiful Denver morning. It snowed on Monday and I have heard whispers that those snowflakes might have been the last of the season. No one is using their out-loud voice, but the soft hope is full of possibility.

Spring. The word alone makes me breath in deep and smile. New growth, new songs, new adventures.

I like that we celebrate Easter in the spring. The picture of Jesus coming out of the tomb to an azure blue sky and fresh earth is lovely, even if it might not be exactly accurate. He arose from the dead and that is the bottom line. Without Easter, without the Resurrection, what would be the point of Christianity? I serve a living God who lives within me. The cross and the tomb and the moments Jesus conquered death are vital to who I am in my faith. New growth, new songs, new adventures.

When I was six, my family climbed on the back of my Pop’s welding truck, complete with all of his welding paraphernalia and drove into the mountains of West Texas to a little creek and spring my father had discovered. It was the night before Easter Sunday and we were going to camp as a family.

“What about the egg hunt?” I asked Mama.

“Bring your basket, Robbie, and we will hide them in the wilderness.”

I couldn’t wait and prepared hard boiled eggs and brought a couple of plastic ones, hoping my mother would fill them with change. My brothers and sister were too old for the egg hunt thing, so I would have a good chance of filling my basket up.

We Floyds were not campers. In fact, this is the one and only memory I have of us ever camping. So the correct equipment was not something we packed next to the welding rods and oxygen bottles. The result? We were frozen solid by the next morning.
I was swallowed up in one of Dad’s welding jumpsuits because I’d fallen in the creek the night before but didn’t bring a change of clothes.

We woke up at dawn to my father saying, “Let’s get out of here!” (I believe he might have used more colorful language.)

The eggs were not hidden in the beautiful spot we’d found but instead in my backyard by my mother. The hunt took about five minutes.

Not exactly a warm, fuzzy memory. But the thing that saddens me about it is the fact that we celebrated Easter without mention of Christ and the resurrection. Countless people do it every year. This most glorious of spring time weekends is about family and egg hunts and eating ham. No, no, no it is not.

It is about new growth, new songs, new adventures!

Egg hunts and ham and camping without the correct equipment is all fine and dandy but none of these bring the same joy and hope that Christ and the true meaning of Easter can bring. Egg hunts end, ham digests and camping often leads to stories years afterward that end in “What were our parents thinking?”

But the wonder of Christ conquering death brings supernatural power that can charge our hearts like those tiny batteries that seem to go on and on. With this kind of power, we can seek out and find new growth. We can become the kind of people who enjoy giving and wait patiently in line and don’t snap to judgments about people who look different. Because of what Christ did, it is possible.

With this kind of power we can sing new songs. Songs that celebrate a friendship with the Creator of all. Songs as we wake up and mouth sleepily in the shower. Songs of His grace that we whisper to put us to bed. Songs that we hum during the day to remind us He is right here.

With this kind of power we can have new adventures. Dreams that were flickers last year can begin to burn brightly. We can put feet to our quests and give them purpose. We can resolve to finish what we once started and find that His power gives perseverance.

Spring is just around the corner here in the Rockies. (I whispered that.) But Easter is upon us now and I for one welcome the surge of power it brings as I celebrate the resurrection. Here is to new growth, new songs, new adventures!

(Tomorrow - Sacrifice)