Lenten Meditation Day 46: Rejoice

Today is Easter, the day in which (in the Christian calendar Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This year, it’s also Passover, when in the Jewish calendar the Jews triumphed over the Pharaoh who subjugated them. If we go back into myriad European pagan beliefs, Eostre is when the year is released from the captivity of winter.

And we rejoice.

There seems to be a common theme here, that of being released from an adversity. I think that’s important. So many good stories begin with overcoming barriers, and there’s a reason. We don’t want to think that we’re going to be shackled forever, so we fight against the captors. In all three of these, divine assistance yielded the victory.

I personally think God works differently than in the stories. I don’t think God sends plagues to our enemies or picks winners in football games. That is not to say that God doesn’t intercede. I think God sustains us until we achieve our victory. I think God gives us the strength to persevere, comforts us in our difficult times, clears our minds so that we can find victory.

But in the end we find victory — not always the victory we wanted, but we find the victory anyhow.

I leave you a poem by ee cummings that I think captures the essence of Easter:

“i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any—lifted from the no

of all nothing—human merely being

doubt unimaginably You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)”

Day 47 Reflection: Rejoice

I don’t feel too much like rejoicing today. I overindulged in Easter candy. I didn’t sleep well last night and now I feel hung over.

But it’s a beautiful day, the perfect day for Easter. I will go outside today and set up some of my raised beds, for Spring is here and I do not need to wait any more.

I will eat breakfast, and go out, and clean my yard, and look at growing things. I will remember the lines from a poem by ee cummings:

I who was dead am alive again today,
and today is the sun’s birthday

— ee cummings, “I thank you God”

It is part of the human condition to rejoice.

Rebirth

I believe everyone experiences rebirth —

There are many religious festivals that follow the motif of rebirth, with Easter being the most present in my mind at the moment
Some people experience rebirth through transcendental experiences like walking in the woods or standing in a silent cathedral or looking out in space
Some people feel reborn through restorative justice — not just the wronged, but the one who has done wrong.
Some people feel reborn through new insights into life
Some reinvent themselves — when they fail at one thing, they open themselves up to another possibility.

I believe in the potential for constant rebirth. It might be a bipolar thing, because I’ve lived much of my life with that enhanced glow in the religious/spiritual part of my brain. But I seek out opportunities for rebirth as often as I can, hoping I can hatch a more whole part of me.

Happy Easter/Good Passover/April Fool’s/Camp Nano time!

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And now for my re-hatching:

My Kindle Scout entry, Voyageurs, can be found at:

Voyageurs

And I’m looking forward to you reading (and hopefully nominating) me!