He has risen...Truly He has Risen!!

As I sit here and write this my mind is focused towards the Resurrection services around the world in every Orthodox church tonight. It begins from the Holy Fire in Israel in the Holy tomb of Christ’s burial and moves through each of us around the world. This should be a day of reflection and love. In prayer we find peace. We should commune with God every day, but today is most important.  We should open our hearts and raise them to our Father in humility and forgiveness, asking for forgiveness and the strength to move forward in a new day, a new light. We should also commend ourselves and one another to each other and God. Stand humble in the light, heads bowed and silence our human soul….it is only this way that we can listen. Listen with your spirit and heart, not your mind. We as humans are flawed and flawed greatly. We are subject to logic, disbelief and anger. We respond with what we know to be scientifically factual. How can science explain resurrection or miracles?

As Christians we make a solemn oath to walk with God every day of our lives and include Him in everything that we do. What is it that we do, however? We are walking hypocrites. Christ entered God’s temple on a carpet of olive branches atop a donkey. He entered to serve with compassion and in complete humility. A spirit so bright and powerful the world would have ended with one thought from this Son of Man. Yet here he was triumphant in his devotion and dedication to the human race going to His death. He is the serpent, much like the test of faith during the years of Moses. The same goes here….it is not God’s hand that heals, but rather your faith in His love, mercy and grace to do so. He has given His life that we may be saved. We took this gift and have done nothing good as a race but grow in our hypocrisy. We are quick to claim our faith and state that we walk with Christ and the first test in our path…we turn tail and run. We run because we have to work, we are busy, our favorite TV program is on, whatever other excuse our brains can contemplate to give. Why? Because the fear we have that we may have to give something up. Money, time, a hot meal….and yet Christ gave himself selflessly. His blood ran for our sins to be washed away. Staring at the cross means nothing if you don’t walk and live in Christ.

he Resurrection brings hope and peace. It is an awakening of self; a time to look at yourself in the mirror and allow your true colors to come to light. Face yourself and the gift you have been given. Wake up and do something with it. God created us all with brains and choice and individual gifts to do something wonderful. What do we do with it? War, hate, envy..etc. We are so busy concerned with ourselves and what will happen to us as individuals, we forget our Heavenly Father is always there, He gave us the ultimate gift, His only begotten son; as Orthodox Christians we celebrate the resurrection, not the crucifixion, however, it would serve us well to understand the crucifixion.

The cross is our gift; that of eternal life in spirit and a peaceful life in our soul. That is a priceless and selfless gift in and of itself, however, we don’t cherish it. We go through the motions and chit chat at church, but we are dumb and senseless in the spirit. We do not commune with God, we can’t since we don’t know our spirit,  most of us don’t even know it exists, never mind finding it. How and why? We are ever busy in ourselves. We must be compassionate and selfless people, as humans before we can even think to say we love, care and walk with God.

We are at the precipice of the Resurrection. Open your hearts and minds to something bigger than you. Give of yourselves as humans to your brothers and sisters on this Earth. No one ever got hurt from charity in spirit. The biggest hurdle we face, our tallest mountain is ourselves. Yes, our imperfect, sinful little lives that mean nothing in the end. Our judgment is on our spirit, hearts, intentions and actions. God will not judge you on how much you earned in your life or whether you wore Armani. Funeral suits do not have pockets; because you aren’t bringing anything but your soul and spirit. Back to the original point of Christ on a donkey walking on a carpet of olive branches…we say we are established as Christians…I am willing to stake my life that if we witnessed Christ in that very same environment today, he would be ridiculed and laughed at much more than when he did grace this Earth with his presence. We still say we have developed as Christians. Yes, right back to preschool in the desert school of theology. Sadly, if Christ were to knock on your door and ask for a drink we would give it heartily, yet when a homeless person knocks on your door we laugh, ridicule and yell at him or her to get away….for fear that our neighbors would think less of us. Yet, we label ourselves Christians. We have not done well.

We are like roses. We scent ourselves and make ourselves appealingly pretty in every way. But from behind the scenes we require attention and care in the highest. We cannot grow without water, sun and attention. We are needy. Our independence is fleeting. We should strive to be more like the nasturtium. They do well even with a little neglect. Their seeds and leaves have many uses. They are beautiful in their infinite uses to please the most picky soul and yet graceful enough to adorn even the poorest table. We are price tags and veer in our own groupings forgetting those in less groups.

In this Orthodox Easter season, I plead with those who read this to please take a look at yourselves in true light. Make a difference to someone less fortunate. Give of yourself and allow the experience to overtake you. Do so in humility and silence. God is the only one who knows your gift of charity and He is the only one who can give you the best return, the gift of eternal life, blameless and without reproach. Strive to make a change in your life for the better, no matter how big or small. God does not have a delineation in good deeds. Grades are not issued at the gates of Heaven. That should be our long term goal….growing closer in the spirit and to God. For those who are not Christians, strive to be a better person and help another on this Earth. We all have our own battles with ourselves and those in our lives, but that should not be a reason we cannot be better people…want for less and do for more. Allow your spirit to take flight and soar towards home, let it be fed and watered and allow it to come back to this Earth and spread its wings wide and far. No one knows how much time they are given on this Earth, it is a luxury we do not have. You cannot prevent death, as it is not ours to reign over, and thank goodness for that…so take heart, lift your sorrows, praise and hearts and allow God’s grace to wash over you and feed its starvation. Please be kind and treat others as you want to be treated, ask forgiveness and repent and bring peace and love into your lives, not anger, envy and hate. I need but to think upon all this and smile. I smile because His grace and humility is a gift I cherish daily. I commune in silence and in my spirit, but during this season I felt compelled to share this with everyone I possibly could. Thank you for reading and following.