Oh wow!  Who knew that celebrating and grieving can happen at the very same time?  Those seem to be complete opposites of each other.  Yes, you can experience both at the same time!!

Celebrating

Celebrating…yes!  This Easter Sunday has been WAY better than last year.  We are celebrating that we were at home this year and not in rehab.   We were able to celebrate Easter in our home and worship together at our church today.  Our kids weren’t orphans at church.  We ate a home cooked dinner around our table.  We hunted eggs at our house.  There are so many things we take for granted until we aren’t able to experience them.  Therefore, when we do, it makes them all the more sweeter.  So this weekend, has definitely had some very sweet moments.

These two traditions are a must in our home.  You’ve never dyed eggs until you’ve done it here!  Creativity abounds!  And our empty tomb cake where we wrap “Jesus” and put him in the tomb.  The stone sealed the tomb.  And guards guarded the tomb.  And this year…we have an angel dog!

Easter pictures are another fun thing that I love to do.  So this year we had a navy theme going on!  Blue was the criteria!  And we even branched out and put slacks on Zine.  Tucking in his shirt is still a no go!  That’s so overrated!  🙂

Grieving

So with all the sweet times we were able to experience this weekend, why in the world do we grieve?

First, seven years ago we heard the words MS for the first time.  An MRI revealed lesions.  A spinal tap was done.  So this weekend was the seven year anniversary of hearing MS for the first time!  Wasn’t the diagnosis  just yet, but it was the beginning of this journey for sure.

Second, there were times that Zine just wasn’t up to doing what we had hoped to do.  Thankful that he felt like doing what we did, but still grieving when in the middle of life, you’re just zapped with a dose of reality.  Our fun family activity that I had planned, didn’t happen.  The three girls did a project, but Zine didn’t feel like it, so the boys refrained.  My other project didn’t happen either.  And that was to take goodies to the rehab where we spent our Easter last year.  But those cookies didn’t get made and that delivery didn’t happen.  Sometimes, life gets interrupted.  Sometimes, side effects of chemo and MS stare you in the face.  We just have to take time to grieve sometimes.  And sometimes, grieving comes in the middle of celebrating!  And then we just make the best of a difficult situation.

Resurrecting

Resurrecting was a song in worship this morning that I seemed to hang on to.

By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected king
Is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive
To declare your victory
The resurrected king
Is resurrecting me

There are things that need to be resurrected in us.  There are battles we fight everyday that I would like victory from.  I get weary fighting the same battles.  This song encouraged my heart that we are being resurrected, it is in process!  We will rise from the ashes of defeat.  God is at work in our lives.  I just need to be patient and let Him do what only He can do.  We will come alive.  The resurrected king is resurrecting me.

Just like our empty tomb cake, Jesus is resurrected.  The stone was rolled away.  The “angel dog” is still letting us know that Jesus has overcome the grave.  And a gentle reminder that whatever difficult situations we are facing in our lives, can be resurrected.  Resurrected.  Redeemed. Made right.  Used for good.