As I sat down to Easter lunch, I checked my Facebook messages and found one saying, "please pray for me--it's bad and getting worse."
I'd just sat through a wonderful sermon that talked about the reality of redemption, that God is at work, that our lives are never out of his hands, that the resurrection means hope in the real world.
Andy Bruner
And then in my hands, I held my friend's pain and sorrow and very real fears for Monday morning.
Easter is not a magic wand.
I mean, Easter was awesome, but it's Monday now.
And we're still here. And life is still happening.
Here's what I think we do with that, on Monday morning:
- We take responsibility for ourselves.
- We do what we must, even though it's excruciatingly painful.
- We be kind to the one God loves (me, and those in pain near me).
- We do good self-care: we rest, we go to the doctor, we hunker down with friends, we accept help. We order take out. Or scramble eggs. Or pour cereal.
- We attend to our emotions: we name them (sad, mad, scared), we feel them, we honor them. We journal through them. We talk about them with our therapist.
- We receive grace, in every single way it presents itself to us: sunshine, rain, flowers, good books, laughter, music, beauty, silence.
- We remember that God is disposed with love toward every person in the story. I may not be disposed with love toward every person right now, but that's okay. God's got it, and he will bring me along.
- We remember that the real story of Love and redemption goes beyond what we know, what we see, beyond what we could ever dare to ask, think, or even dream (Ephesians 3)--and we can't wreck the real story of Love. Because Easter is Real, even though it's not a magic wand.
- Then we do what Glennon says at Momastery: We carry on, warrior, because Love wins.