Spring Days and Easter Surprises

It is true, many people in the United States (and elsewhere in some parts of the world) are still digging out of the snow. Winter weather is hanging on! Regardless, the celebration of Easter is apparent in the stores. Children, especially, look forward to it with giggles and happiness. Bunnies and chicks start multiplying! Many of us like to decorate our homes with bouquets and lawn signs that read, “Life is beautiful!” And there is nothing wrong with any of this; except, Easter often gets mixed up with Spring.   

A World Gone Crazy

Whereas Spring marks a certain number of days on the calendar ushering in gentle and beautiful weather with flowers and plants bursting forth, Easter typically is a three-day celebration each year of the events that concluded the life of Jesus Christ on earth and his entry into heaven. Fundamentally, it is all about forgiveness which is difficult to understand in any world.   

This month in America, we have witnessed the prejudice, ignorance, and hatred causing eight people in one incident and ten people in another incident to die needlessly for no apparent reason. After occurrences like these, we all are left with our own thoughts to deal with such hostility.

“According to an excerpt of the book Why Forgive? in Plough Quarterly, Steven McDonald was a young police officer in 1986 when he was shot by a teenager in New York’s Central Park, an incident that left him paralyzed. “I forgave [the shooter] because I believe the only thing worse than receiving a bullet in my spine would have been to nurture revenge in my heart,” McDonald wrote. While the younger man was serving his prison sentence, McDonald corresponded with him, hoping that one day the two could work together to demonstrate forgiveness and nonviolence. Unfortunately, the young man died in a motorcycle accident three days after his release; but McDonald still travels the country to deliver his message.” [as told in Reader’s Digest, www.rd.com]

How many of us could bring ourselves to have such compassion in a world gone crazy? The officer obviously reached deep down inside himself and found kindness and love to be his answer. Rather than continuing the hatred or blaming himself for the incident (which is quite common), forgiveness was the only way to heal.

It is not such a surprise that, most likely, this victim was following his faith. Surely, there were many prayers for wisdom involved first. And do not think this was just a casual or easy decision. It could not have been considering the physical recovery he must have had to go through for a long time.

Like all of us who know the God of Grace [undeserved favor], these tragedies help us to understand the unimaginable Easter sacrifice on a cross simply to forgive us of our own sins. We all received this same mercy and forgiveness when we asked Jesus to be our personal Savior and Redeemer.

Jesus showed immense love and kindness and willingly removed our guilt forever! If you have not asked Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior, you can do that today. Read the true story below and then just ask for mercy and forgiveness in your own words. God will hear you!     

The True Easter Story

As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women.

Two others, both criminals, had already been led out to be executed alongside Jesus, the only innocent One. When they came to a place called The Skull [Golgotha], they nailed him to a cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing."

Then he [one of the criminals] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Then he [Joseph of Arimathea] took the body of Jesus down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of a rock. This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation for the Sabbath [Saturday].

But very early on [Easter] Sunday morning the women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside. So they went in, but they couldn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

The women were terrified and bowed low before them [two men]. Then the men [angels] asked, “Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead!"

And just as they [the disciples] were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

And he [Jesus] said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day."

Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.

The Easter story is an excerpt from the Holy Bible, Luke 23 and 24 (NLT) [emphasis added].

"But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too" (Mark 11:25 NLT).

 

 

Get Ready for SPRING!

 

SPRING is on the way this week!

FRESH START MOMENTUM 

is joining you for Spring Break!

We will return on March 29th

for Easter week! 

Join us then! 

How Can We Create a Better World for Ourselves and Others?

We all know toddlers say the funniest things. “My one wish is: for it to rain tacos” (author unknown/Huff Post). Now that would be a great surprise even for adults!

Or maybe this one: “C’mon, Elsa! Get it together!” My almost-three-year-old said this to her doll who kept falling over” (Masey Cossey/Huff Post). We can relate.

It is a lifelong problem that starts way back when we were toddlers. What is that problem? Trying to learn how to control our impulses, especially when we get angry at someone and suddenly want revenge. These urges seem to have taken over our world recently with more and more protests, violence, and uncontrolled anger. Wanting our own way all the time with no compromise. Sadly, we are witnessing adults acting more like toddlers.

This type of “eye for an eye” behavior can even spill over into our everyday lives and may have affected the former situation that got us to where we are today. But that was the past and there is no more condemnation here to address for any of us. We have successfully made it this far and we cheer on each strong woman in our midst.  

“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” (Mahatma Gandhi, Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist who employed non-violence).

How Do We See More Clearly?

What great insight! We have never heard it put that way, but we could adopt this motto to create a better world for ourselves and those around us. Wouldn’t it be something wonderful if we could help ourselves and others to see more clearly? To look at solutions with an attitude of inclusion instead of excluding people from our little world.

How do we do this? Great question but the answer(s) may not be easy. In fact, it is difficult to even begin to think of how to change things as they are right now. It is going to take a while, but we must begin somewhere if we want to see change. We believe remedies could be different for each of us depending on where we live and who we come in touch with on a daily basis.

There are no quick fixes. Maybe open a notebook or journal and start just jotting down problems we see in our own neighborhoods. How do we see it could be better? List questions that come up to solve as we go along. It does not have to be anything massively complicated. If we are looking for something a little easier to start this process, that can be done.

• Keep our eyes open at the grocery store for anyone who needs help.  
• Go out of our way to say Hello! to someone we have never met.
• Be friendly and smile at the drug store clerk.
• Offer to find boxes for someone moving and include a roll of tape.
• Do something good for someone we dislike.

We get the idea. There are a million little things we can do. Each week make a list that is a tiny bit more challenging and before we know it, we will forget about ourselves and be more open to and for others. Just ask, how many people in my own neighborhood do I actually know or talk to?

For All of Eternity

One more important thing to think about: if we already know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can be assured we are going to heaven one day. And all those people we have avoided in our everyday lives, who also know Jesus, will be in heaven with us for all of eternity! It would be best if we begin now and start loving others no matter their race, color, or which side of town they live on. True?

“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? . . .No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously” (Matthew 5:38, 42 The Message).

 

How to Get Back on Track and Love Life

If it has been a long time since bowling was a favorite Friday night league sport, we can relate. Our bowling ball, however, is probably somewhere in the back of the closet collecting dust. “One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball.” (Don Carter/golftrainingand practicegear.com)

We started thinking about how life is like throwing a bowling ball: it often falls into the gutter and needs someone to get it out and onto the right path. That was always one frustrating drawback about bowling. And our lives may feel that way too at times. We just need some help getting back on track and pointed in the right direction!

Confidence and Feeling Good

Now that we are single-again and mostly on our own, it is going to take lots of practice and trial and error before we are good at it. Anyone great at any creative dream spends many days and even years learning what will work best for them. It is not just automatic, and we should not expect instant success.

“I’ll have you know I threw a gutter ball and I only cried for twenty minutes.” (SpongeBob character/pinterest.com)

Sometimes, it is to our advantage to seek ideas, suggestions, and guidance from those professionals who specialize in our situations. If not in person, then at the very least, we need to visit the library and start reading about how to navigate our new lives. There are so many books on the topic it will take a while to get to the bottom of whatever is holding us back from moving forward. But we can do it!

This kind of effort will give us plenty of confidence and a “feel-good” approach to our life. We will find out how to turn a depressed state of mind into a more optimistic way of living. We’ll find ourselves smiling more. People will begin looking at us and wonder how in the world we are handling things with such a wonderful attitude.

Admittedly, we will all need a little boost once in a while. We are not saying that life is going to suddenly grow perfect roses and we will never need any instruction again. Unfortunately, life just isn’t that simple, and we don’t want to lead anyone down the fantasy of a “yellow brick road.”

We would rather get more real and suggest three views to start us off on the right path. Any of these can be adjusted, added to, ignored, or deleted. It’s up to each of us what to do. But one thing we sincerely hope no one does is simply do nothing.

• Find one of these books (or similar) to start:

Living Unbroken: Reclaiming Your Life and Your Heart After Divorce (Tracie Miles)

Living and Loving After Betrayal (Steven Stosny Ph.D.)

• Speaking about roses:

Plant one or two rose bushes in celebration of a new life.

• Take a day trip (check with local college) and make it an adventure with a friend.

Best Told Stories

Our best reference is the Holy Bible. For some reason, there are those women in the world right now who have a false belief that God does not care for females. But that is a total lie and is supported by those who have not read the Bible at all.

Of course, God created males and females for a reason, and he delights in both. Some of the best stories are about those courageous women of the Bible whom God loved. We suggest picking up a copy of the Bible (or purchasing one online) and look up these names: Esther, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi, Mary (mother of Jesus), Rachel, and Mary Magdalene among hundreds of others.

Try completing this sentence with your name: God has always loved _____.

“Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life” (Proverbs 4:13 NIV).