Thursday, March 29, 2018

At Christmas time I had the thought: Maybe if I don’t celebrate, it won’t be so hard. I am having the same thoughts now as the Easter season is coming.

At Christmas I didn’t decorate. I used the excuse that I was too busy. But really…. I just didn’t want to. If I saw all the Christmas stuff in my apartment, it would make it harder. I didn’t want to participate in Christmas.

Maybe if I didn’t celebrate… maybe if I didn’t decorate…. maybe if I didn’t participate …. I could get through it easier.

I was singing with the MTC Choir, practicing for the Christmas program…. LOVING IT!…. when the thought came to me: How can I not celebrate!? How can I not remember Him….the one who brings the hope I rely on? Thankfully we got to celebrate Christmas with our family in the US. I did celebrate Christmas after all. I just started a little later than most.

And today…. resisting the celebrating…. I decided to listen to an Easter special from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Much of the music was from Handel’s Messiah. I was reminded that “surely He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows” and “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

I heard:

“Why is it that the most significant, beautiful moments in life so often come just after periods of darkness and sorrow. The birth of a new child is always preceded by a mother’s pain and travail. The joyful colors of spring are most inspiring because they come on the heels of a dreary winter. And glorious sunrises would be meaningless if they didn’t follow the darkness of night. Perhaps there’s a message for us in such patterns. Nothing is ever hopeless. When things seem the bleakest, when all seems dark and despairing, it may be that a great light of hope is just about to shine forth. After all, such new light cannot come if life is always sunny.”

I was reminded that:

“In many ways the story of Handel’s Messiah exemplifies the light of hope. While the music and lyrics abound with hopeful messages, the Messiah was written in a dark and dismal time in Handel’s life. He was in debt and out of favor as a composer. Public taste for his work was dwindling and he struggled with crippling self-doubt as a result. But then a friend gave him a text he had prepared with hopes that Handel would set it to music. Taken from scripture, it included lines like these, “lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up; be not afraid.” “Arise, shine, for thy light is come” and “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined.” The result was one of the most popular and enduring pieces of music ever created. Combining  his talent with hard work and divine inspiration, Handel composed his master work in just 24 days. Heaven clearly shined upon his effort and the person and the moment came together in a powerful way. The work itself and its miraculous creation remind us that the great light of hope shines for all, but in particular for those who walked in darkness. Even when everything seems bleak and hopeless, new life will come. Light will always chase away darkness. That is the abiding truth and message of the Messiah.”

After that hopeful inspiration…. I WILL BE CELEBRATING WITH YOU!!

I don’t have any Peeps, Easter eggs or chocolate bunnies, but I do have a renewed hope in my soul that Christ will make everything right. I’m grateful for His life, His death and resurrection. He lives! I want to celebrate that!  I just might make some deviled eggs.

“The message of Easter is a message of freedom. Victory over death, freedom from doubt and despair, and the bright light of hope. Hope that good will ultimately conquer evil, that all wrongs will be righted and that we will be set free to live again.”

“Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto Him!”

Written by Faye