A Refreshing

I hope all of you had a great and meaningful celebration of Easter yesterday.  Our day was wet and wonderful!  I have talked about and displayed pictures of the large and beautiful Dogwood tree that has been in full bloom to the right of our driveway.  If you stand on our front porch and look in either direction you will quickly notice that they also dot the neighborhood from the beginning of the road to the end.  It is always an awe inspiring sight when I open the blinds each morning.

There is one downside to their beauty though.  Over the last week or so, EVERYTHING in the neighborhood has taken on a yellow film from the pollen floating through the air from these trees.  I even noticed that our Mustang kept warm and cozy in the garage had a shimmer of yellow to it.  Come to think about it… so did the piano in the living room as I have been enjoying the spring weather and opening the windows throughout the house.

Well, the rain, that wonderful sensation of water falling from the heavens refreshed the neighborhood as it washed away the pollen from everything outside… off the deck, off the Buick in the driveway, the patio, the plants and even the dog after she was out back for a prolonged period of time!

The refreshment of the rain reminded me of the whole reason for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on what we call Easter Sunday.  When He stepped out of that grave He brought with Him a fresh start, a refreshing for mankind.  From that moment on, every man, women and child had the opportunity to be refreshed, to be washed of their old sinful, pointless lives and be renewed to live a life of purpose for the kingdom of God through their new eternal existence as living epistles of Jesus and His Word.

After service yesterday, I found myself walking through the house singing the words to the Bill Gather hymn “Because He Lives” although I noticed after a while that I was singing the wrong words.  Instead of the chorus of “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,” I was singing in line with it being Easter: “Because He arose, I can see tomorrow.”

At that realization I had to laugh and called out to my wife sitting in the dining room, that “because He arose, because He lives, I CAN now SEE and FACE tomorrow… because I see it through the truth and promises in His Word.”  I can be happy, I can be strong, I can be hopeful, I can have peace in the midst of ANY adverse circumstances because I can look at the situations of my life in the same way that The Almighty God does!  I CAN see His answers.  I CAN see and I CAN have the VICTORIES that He says are ours within the pages of His Book!

NOW THAT’S A REFRESHING THAT I CAN GET INTO!  How about you?  I was a little saddened last night as I heard a Fox News anchor signing off from her program as she wished “Those who celebrate Easter” a happy Easter.  I felt sad for those who don’t celebrate and take advantage of the most wonderful and powerful opportunity given to mankind.  But on the other hand, it also encouraged me to want to tell those folks about the amazing grace of Christ, and of their opportunity to see their tomorrows in a different light!  How about you?   

Maybe today is a good time to tell others why it is that you really celebrate Easter.  Maybe… just maybe… you could be a refreshing rain in their pollen covered lives.

Have a great week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting to REFRESH today?”