an Easter walk

This morning I pulled out the stroller and took the boy on a walk with me. (We did this last year too, so maybe now it's a thing?) We walked around our little neighborhood listening to the birds and feeling crisp, fresh air on our cheeks. We saw fuzzy dandelions coated in a thin layer of frost and tulips blooming with abandon. We walked mostly in silence. We walked and noticed the spring and thought about Easter.

Every Easter morn I feel a stirring in my heart. It's unsettling, yet familiar, a stirring that reminds me of my own humanity, weakness, and humility. It's a stirring that makes all my expressed gratitude insufficient, because the gift He gave me is so momentous, so all-encompassing, so intimate, that nothing I could ever say or do will ever be enough to express those raw feelings in my heart. Every Easter I wake up with tears close to the surface, because without Him, I'd have nothing. Because of Him, I have everything.

Because of Him, I have my family, and because of Him my family can be eternal.

Because of Him I can start over again and again and again.

Because of Him I can feel love.

Because of Him I have answers, and because of Him I have purpose.

Because of Him I can remake myself each day.

Everything good in my life--my husband, my son, my people, my friends, and even books and tulips--I have because of Him. He is everything good.


The sun rose this morning over my neighborhood, that same sun that rose that morning Mary found the tomb empty. The sun that melts the frost today is the same star that lit the days of our Savior. Every Easter my heart is tender and raw and full, because I know that He--Jesus Christ, the literal Risen Lord--is everything.

#BecauseofHim