Wellbeing via Easter
Easter is a powerful time where we can stop and think how it can benefit us today. Doing this could be of great help for us to figure out what Easter means for us today in practice. I have found it helpful to ponder on three things - where life is going, where I need to extend forgiveness or be forgiven and to become intentional about reconnecting into my faith journey by following Jesus leading.
1. Time to stop and notice. Easter is also known as “Pascha,” in Latin, meaning resurrection day. It’s the time of year for new life as we emerge out of winter and nice spring. The birds come back to sing, flowers start to pop up from the hidden ground and slowly warmth comes. The season of Easter gives us time to tune into the new resurrected life evident in creation also reflected in our spiritual life. Notice what has been hidden and buried; can you see it beginning to wake up. It is an opportunity for New Life to come and for us to walk in that New Life, breathing hope into all our situations. We all have need of this as we move through the years.
2. A moment to activate forgiveness. To extend forgiveness is not easy especially when there has been great hurt. Jesus himself was betrayed by friends, beaten up and humiliated, unfairly judged and died a horrible death. In the Easter story Jesus opens the way of forgiveness for us to receive it when we need it and to be able to extend it to others. To carry bitterness and resentment in our bodies and minds can do great harm. Christians speak about the cross which is a symbol today of the death of Jesus. By his death so many things were achieved for our benefit one of those being the ability to forgive, not in our own strength but by his presence in our lives. When we can’t bear pain anymore we can speak to Jesus in prayer and give it all to him, he takes it from us as we leave it all at the foot of the cross. We can then stand up and move forward free from those hurts that do us harm. Jesus exchanges hurt and pain for love and peace. Bringing peace to our souls.
3. An opportunity to reconnect with faith. When I say faith, I mean God the person who is the source of our faith. We can all get distracted and find ourselves distant from God. It is mainly us who move away for whatever reason. God is always just one prayer away from us. He loves it when we speak to him through prayer as it lights up the connection. When a plug goes into an electric socket it can sit there but until we flick the switch, no power will flow through the wire. It can be the same with our faith journey. It will need the switch flicking on. Maybe we haven’t prayed for a while, whatever the reason it doesn’t matter once we say a few words to God the power is back on and we are reconnected. We can restore our wellbeing through prayer as it nurtures the soul in a way no one or nothing else can. Let the power supply be reignited this Easter.
I hope these three wellbeing benefits of Easter are thought provoking. In the challenging world we live in there is always hope when faith is nurtured. May the love of God touch our hearts in this Easter time breathing new life into our very being.