Grattitude, Spring and Other Things....

Yesterday on the way home from taking Alyssa to school, I noticed the crepe myrtles by the side of the road. This isn't the first time I 've seen them. There is a line of them, maybe a dozen or more along Hwy. 301 going South into Riverview. They have been like silent brown stick sentinels and I have thought "How ugly!" But yesterday, they were different. It is as if all of a sudden, the crepe myrtles came to life. As I waited for the green traffic arrow, I noticed that the once brown of winter has changed into fresh green leaves! And there are hundreds of little buds that will soon blossom into the beloved splashes of color I so enjoyed last spring and summer!

By the way, when Doug and Alyssa and I went up to Jasper in north Florida to visit my brother a few weeks ago, we were treated to "eye candy" as we saw gigantic azalea shrubs awash in color everywhere.......beautiful......Here in Riverview and Lakeland the flowering shrub of choice seems to be bouganvillas and I'm not complaining! I love to look over as I'm driving along and see these breathtaking, beautiful blooms of burgundy and red.....It was like that in Hawaii--flowers everywhere.
And on one of our visits to Shane and Angie's last month we were greeted with the heady perfume of orange blossoms! We couldn't see them but oh the fragrance!

Florida does have seasons, albeit subtle ones. The mornings have been cool to sometimes chilly, the days very warm with clear blue skies and the evenings pleasantly breezy and cool. This is a glorious spring.....

Easter is one of my favorite times of the year for many reasons. When I was little Easter meant buying a pretty frock and dressing up with hat and gloves. It meant real baby chicks and bunnies. It meant coloring eggs for the big hunt later in the day. It meant candy, lots of candy! But now it's significance to me is as a Christian. I don't feel sad that Jesus died even though the movie "The Passion of the Christ" gave all of us who saw it a small glimpse of the agony and probably forever changed the way we looked at or didn't look at the crucifixion and what Jesus suffered for our sins.The reason I don't feel sad is because Jesus' death was planned by God for me, for all of us. My Messiah was God himself in human form. And because Jesus died, I will live forever!

There are many songs in my mind inexorably tied to Easter....verses that go...."He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay....." and "Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes..." and " We shall behold Him...." . How glorious it was to see and be a part of the Easter production at CHC, "Behold His Glory". How can I ever forget how I felt as Jesus rode down the aisle of the church on a donkey or the palm fronds waving as people (including me) shouted "Hosanna! Hosanna to the King! or the excitement and awe as Jesus came out of that tomb! I still feel excited at Easter........and deeply grateful.......

The second most important thing that I celebrate at Easter time is my anniversary. Doug and I were married on April 14th on Easter Sunday back in 1974 when Easter held little or no significance for me. You see, I didn't really know what it meant. I didn't know about Jesus and that He is a personal saviour. There must have been people who prayed for us along the way because Doug and I found Him two years later at a superbowl party at my boss' work place on a Sunday afternoon. My boss had recently gotten saved and he thought all his employees needed to know about Jesus. So he brought his pastor, Burton Schoepf (pronounced chef) to give us the "Good News". We were astonished and captivated and we asked questions......and a short time later Burton came to visit us at our home on April 12th, 1976 and when he left, Doug and I knelt and said a simple prayer and received Christ as our Saviour and Lord. I wish I could say that we followed him faithfully all these years. We didn't. We screwed up many times, we made many mistakes. I could go on about struggles we've been through,things we have learned, ways God has sustained us and ways He has used us and blessed us. Perhaps I'll testify to some of those things another time. But we always came back to the cross. And He has always been there for us with open arms.....

Easter for me is a time to be grateful, a time to reflect back on what God has done, where I've been and who I was and who I am becoming. I'm grateful that I have a husband who loves God as much as I do and does his best to honor Him. I'm grateful that my husband is my love and my very best friend, that we can talk and share things that we can't or won't share with anyone else. I'm thankful that as much as we thought we loved each other when we first got married, we love each other even more now......I'm grateful for my children. They have brought me untold joy, they make me laugh, they make me cry, they teach me things, they keep me on my knees.....I'm especially grateful for two daughters-in-law who are the absolute best! Beautiful inside and out. They are fast becoming two of my dearest friends......I'm grateful for the grandkids who keep me young. Why else would I let Landon ride on my back while I crawl on my knees and "neigh"? Why do I love sending "hug" packages to the grandgirls and chit chatting on the phone to hear those sweet voices? The grandchildren are the "icing" on the cake of life--the very best part!

This Easter I am very grateful......