He is risen? YES, HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

there is a huge banner hanging on my dining room wall, the script in spring green glitter on rough brown paper, that declares "He Is Risen Indeed!". Ironically, I was the one who created it amidst all of my hustle and bustle.

I have been busy cleaning my house, stocking my fridge and pantry with treats, and buying every last plastic Easter egg in sight for the neighborhood hunt tomorrow morning.

this morning we celebrate that God saw fit to give everything God had to restore us.

I've felt a deeper ,more profound need for restoration now more than any other time in my life....oddly, when most outward appearances seem right. But internally I've been a disaster and more overwhelmed than I knew I could be.

But in these wee morning hours I can't help of think of those women that first Easter morning, going to tend to the body of one they had loved, pinned all their hopes on and were now mourning. In those early morning hours they discover that somehow not all was lost, something more wonderful than they could have hoped for happened. Where a body should lay there is an empty tomb. Jesus who was dead and buried is risen indeed.

It's an exciting story isn't it? That in the midst of deep pain and sorrow joy could just break forth like this. That hope at some point gives way to something else, a reality so sweet we could not have imagined it. That restoration is inevitable and that new life is present.

I hardly remember this story on most days but I want to. I want the words "He is risen indeed!" written indelibly on my heart. I want these words to be the way of life I lead; a life both full of joy and filled with excitement of what this could mean for me and for you and for the world.

This morning I am pinning all my hopes on a risen Christ, a God of love and the Holy Spirit to restore me where I am broken and to lead me in the adventure that is new life.