Another Easter is in the books! And today I’m a bit melancholy. Easter has always been a very special holiday for me. Since I was a little girl, it was the day my sisters and I looked forward to with excitement! We got brand-new patent leather shoes, and they were white because it was Spring. We got to pick out new Easter dresses that matched most of the time-except for being in different colors. We anticipated the family egg hunt, with my cousins, aunts and uncles. There were plenty of eggs and goodies for everyone, but the most treasured and sought after egg was the “hallelujah egg!”  The finder of that egg got a special prize! Easter was a time for family, for having fun together, and for going to church.

When I was younger, I knew that going to church was the central part of Easter, but I did not understand the true significance. I just knew it was an important holiday. Isn’t it true that much of the time we celebrate holidays, we have every clothing and decorative detail down, but we can miss the holiday’s true meaning?

The clothes we wear, that menu we serve, the decor in our homes, the place settings, the baskets filled to the brim sitting on the hearth…yes even the resurrection eggs. We try and teach our children the true meaning of Easter, but amidst all of the celebration, does it stay with us after Easter is over? Do we take the true meaning of Easter, and live it every day in our lives so that Jesus truly lives in our hearts every day of the year?

After the last chocolate bunny is eaten, after the last jelly bean is found in the corners of the couch, after the last hard boiled Easter egg is turned into an egg salad sandwich, what remains with you?

If we are missing the transforming power of Jesus’ resurrection, we are missing the most significant piece of our faith! Without that, you miss the truth of Easter. We are missing the truth that forever changed the world!

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, everything we do for the rest of the year in Christianity and in His name, holds no significance. If Jesus lives, and if He lives powerfully in our hearts every day of the year, then Easter truly never ends!

I serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today, He walks with me, he talks with me, a long life every way! He lives, He lives! He brings His salvation to us each and every day. He lives within our hearts, every day we live for him!

So, how do you and I take this “Risen life” and live it every day? Well let’s take a lesson from the disciples. Those who walked with him physically on the earth for three years. They saw a Jesus resurrected, alive and supernaturally well! They walked with him and talked with him in his resurrected body, and what did that relationship do to their lives?

There was something radically remarkable about the disciples lives immediately following the resurrection of Jesus! Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, who was grieved in his spirit for failing Jesus to the point of weeping bitterly, declared emphatically,

“As for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things that we have seen and heard!” Acts 4:20

And he said that face to face with a hostile Jewish audience! Nothing could silence his joy! He had to tell everybody!

Truth bomb:

Jesus’ tomb is empty so that our hearts can be full!

What about you? Who do you tell? Who can see the joy through the life that you live?

What is it that you and I could not stop talking about? Is it the latest trend? Is it the latest sale at Nordstrom? The latest TV show? The latest political debate? Who should be the next Bachelor or Bachelorette? Who should be on Dancing with the stars?

Or rather, is it what Jesus did for you, today?  How did He help you mend a fence with a neighbor, or bring healing words to a friend?  How did He help you say an encouraging word to your spouse, or maybe just help you hold your tongue? Did He help you make a difficult decision, or did He lift your spirit when nothing else could?  That is resurrection power, demonstrating how Jesus is living and reigning in your heart!

Let’s take a one week challenge, and let our thoughts and speech reflect how Jesus is Risen and filling our hearts with joy. Ask God to bring someone across your path, to whom you–like Peter–won’t be able to “stop speaking about all that you have seen and heard!”

Speak Truth Love