Thoughts on Easter Sunday and What It Means To Me

Happy Easter! Blessed Passover! And to others who do not partake, just have a great day, eh?

This weekend I am dog sitting for friends who are taking in the Coachella Music Festival, which is great for me because I get to hang with my favorite "road dog", Tigger (see photo below). 

It was a beautiful day at the park. One never knows what crouching tigers or hidden dragons they may happen upon in LA's ethnically diverse landscape. I saw neither today, but did discover 3 beautiful elderly Chinese women practicing Tai Chi (see photo below) with swords and umbrellas. It was pretty cool. Afterwards, Tigger and I took in some visual stimulation walking thru Mar Vista's neighborhood streets and came upon the most majestic color of purple I've ever witnessed (see photo below).

What Easter Means to Me?

 Before I begin, mine is a life that does not involve attending church services on a regular or periodic basis, but more random. I personally feel like life itself and the environment in which we exist is a form of church itself as it continually immerses us in spiritual lessons if we are open enough to look and listen. As I reflect upon this day, I try to search for meaning and its relevance to my own life and I can briefly distill it down to 3 essential things.

1. For me, it's about the joy of life despite going through its challenges and tribulations. Today's beautiful sunshine and the observation of life being lived, including my own and Tigger's, was a joy unto itself.
2. Individually and metaphorically, we probably all periodically undergo flogging and crucifixions of some sort. We all endure sufferings and, pardon the pun as I do not take the Crucifixion lightly, but sometimes life really nails us. At times,  it tears us down and unleashes destructive forces whereby the damage cannot be undone and the most we can salvage are healed wounds and scars.
3. In spite of the above, life is about transformation, which resulting from experiences and choices, can occur on many levels, e.g. spiritual, physical, financial, intellectual,  and etc. This embodies rejuvenation and the opportunity to start anew. Through him who strengthens me, I can do all things (Philippians 4:13).

Bearing the Crux of Knowledge vs Faith
Yes, that all sounds good in theory and it flows nicely from the keyboard to the computer screen, but let's keep it real. The real crux to bear is reconciling Knowledge vs Faith. If this historical figure of a man called Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, then it is truly the mother of all miracles and in a digital/scientific world tainted by fake news and biased opinions at best, that is not easy to swallow. 

You see, knowledge can be obtained, albeit with great effort at times. However when we do get it, it is relatively easy to accept as it can be substantiated by logic, facts, evidence or experience. However, faith is a whole different ball of wax that can sometimes melt under the pressure when the flames of hell seem to encompass us. Faith requires us to believe in what we cannot see or even prove. It's acceptance is based upon belief in what is essentially unknown or mysterious.

So, I must be completely honest and say that for a control freak like myself, this is utterly terrifying. Yet, if I am to transform my life, i.e. allowing the old version of me to die along with all the things and habits that do not serve me positively thus allowing the new me to be a better man and overcome the thorns that God has placed in my flesh, I can only do so by faith. Yet, transformation is no easy journey, but forward I go one step at a time. I'll probably stumble and fall along the way like I always do, but it is mustard seed size faith that encourages me to never give up and have patience to endure. IN THIS HAVE I FOUND JOY THIS EASTER!

A Beautiful Easter Sunday