Here's a journal entry of mine that I did around Easter. I thought I'd post it just to share exactly why Easter is the best celebration of the year, and why it's so dear to my heart. Just FYI, in my journals I kinda alternate between prayer and talking, then story telling, so it may seem a little jumbled....but it's the overflow of my heart. Enjoy!

In the beginning was the Word. From the start, Lord Jesus, you were there. You created the heavenly and earthly realms. You created light, land, night and day, animals, and man. You created life….and it was good.

But then time came for man to choose. Because you love us, you allow us to make our own decisions. You allow us to return love to you voluntarily. There in the Garden so many years ago, a choice had to be made: God’s will, or our own will. There in the Garden, we chose our own way. Oh God, there in the Garden you created, we fell. We were separated from you by our own choice, yet you loved us just the same. Though we were tarnished and no longer pure, even though our choice led to corruption, you never left us.

          Time went on. Year after year we turned our back on God our Father. We became a fickle people, accepting God’s love, then rejecting Him the moment acceptance became inconvenient. However, a soft glow of Hope was seen reflecting in people throughout history:  Moses, Abraham, Job, Esther, Nehemiah, David, and other unlikely children who carried the faith of God’s promises with them though faced with turmoil. But even they were tarnished by sin, for we have all fallen short.

          Then, true Hope was born through the promise of Immanuel, God with us. God with us. Oh, could it be?! God, what do you mean?

          The prophecies foretold Messiah, and just like all of God’s promises, it came in an unexpected place and in an unexpected time. Oh, Great Light of the World, there you lay…a helpless babe in a drafty stable.

          What love is this? God, you chose to be separated from your only Son, so you could be with us. Your own creation, your own children, rejected you; but you never turned your back. You never gave up on your creation. Instead, when all seemed lost and hopeless, you paved a way. You were determined to make the world right again, and the proof was daily growing into a man.

          He was a pure, wonderful, sinless man in a cruel and fickle world. Oh Jesus, thank you. In all your glory, thank you for openly living in an unholy world. Thank you for the words, prayers, wisdom, tears, and laughter that permeate the pages of each Gospel. You had an earthly family, friends, an occupation, school…Oh God, you became man. Yet faced with temptation, you were perfect. Never once did you sin.

          After about 33 years, your time had come. My sweet Savior, there in the Garden, you knelt to pray. Fullness of God, you knew what was to come. Fullness of man, you knew it would be hard. You knew it would hurt in more ways than one. In agony you spoke to the Father. You had a choice to make: God’s will or your own will. There in the Garden, you reenacted the beginning of creation, yet you didn’t fall. Praise to the Almighty! You chose God’s will!!

          Oh, but the pain. To see your children, whom you love, reject you face to face. To feel their beatings, and taste the blood they caused to spill from your flesh. Oh God, to hear the cries, the slander, the insults, the curses, the rejection; to watch them mock you; to see their snickering smiles and haughty eyes.

          But you stood silent, unwavering. With calm deliberation and steady determination you quietly spoke the truth. Your voice calmly echoed, “You say that I am”, and the sentence was passed. In an illegal trial, with an unjust sentence, the crowd yelled, “Crucify him!”

          Crucify him.

          Suddenly I’m there, and my heart shatters. My breath quickens. My throat closes. My LORD! They want to crucify my Lord!!

          The beatings continue. God, make it stop! They’re piercing my Jesus! My brother, my friend, my King. His rightful place is high above us all, yet He has chosen to become the least. Crucifixion? Why, God?!! WHY?!

Because, dear one, I love you.

Metal hits metal. The penetrating shrill sound echoes from the hilltop. Over and over. The nails drive further into His flesh, and pierce my heart with each clang of the hammer. Jesus, I’m sorry. My sin. My sin is the force behind the hammer. My own corruption is the rust in the nail. Oh Jesus, I have driven the nail in your hands.

I feel you look at me through tear-stained eyes. Yet there is no hatred, no remorse, no animosity. Only Love. Only Love.

They raise you higher and higher. There you remain, breath becoming shallow as the hours pass. May I never run out of tears, my Jesus. Tears to show you how sorry I am. Tears to wash your feet, though I am not worthy to touch them.

Blood falls to the ground, mixing with sweat and tears at the base of the cross. It is there I kneel, face pressed against the rocky floor. Give me strength, my God. I look up. Oh my Jesus, your eyes are fixed on me, ever so softly. Ever so softly.

NO!!!! Don’t you know that I did this to you?! It was ME!! I’m the one! I deserve death! Jesus. Jesus, why?

Oh, my love, my child, my Beloved. Because you’re worth it.

Then, He breathed His last. It is finished.

How can the story continue? How can I move on? I’m tormented by the sin that killed my Savior. Why did He have to die? Wasn’t there another way??

A soft voice reminds me, No child. There’s no other way.

It is now the third day since they took away my Lord. The screams have faded, but the blood still stains the courtyard and the road to the cross. My tears are still buried deep in the soil where they killed Him.

My heart is still broken.

With a heavy soul I approach the tomb, just to glimpse them anointing His broken body. Just to see Him one last time. Each step seems to last an eternity, until…

Oh, GOD!!!! The stone! The stone is rolled away, and there’s no one here! What have they done to Him?! Where have they taken my only Precious One?!

I fall to my skin-torn knees wanting to scream, but my throat has closed in. My heart pounds in my chest as in anguish I silently cry to God, What do they want with Him now??? Wasn’t it enough?! He was perfect. He endured, He suffered, He died. Oh, God! Wasn’t that enough?!!!!

I must have unknowingly spoken aloud, for a familiar voice behind me said sweetly and tenderly, “Yes, my love. It was enough. Now we’ll never have to be apart again.”

Oh, my Jesus. Rabboni!  Turning from the empty tomb, I run to Him and bury my face in His sweet robe, fresh tears flowing freely. He lifts my chin tenderly with His nail-pierced hands until our eyes meet. He’s alive. My soul is finally at home. Yes, indeed. It was enough.

This is my Jesus. He came to the world, lived a human life, died a brutal death, was resurrected into a new body, and ascended into the heavenly realm. All for Love.

Now, in a world still torn by sin, He WILL make everything right again. Because He lives, I have the down payment of the Holy Spirit in my life. He died so I could have a holy inheritance as an heir of God, and co-heir with Christ. Because of what He’s done, because of His perfection, obedience, and love…there is Hope. He will never neglect or abandon us. He is always with us. Now, for those who choose to let go and allow Christ to transform them, they will become a new creation. A new creation for a new Kingdom to come, that has already started through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Father, time is too precious and life is too important to not live by the Spirit. As I daily walk through that Garden, help me choose as Christ did: Your will, not my own. By your strength alone will this happen. Give me a hunger and a passion only for you, because you are all that matters. All I do is for you. I long to live to glorify you alone and have joy abiding in you. I praise you with the depths of my heart and all that I am. My hope is in you.

Jesus, you said you’re coming back again. I know you will. I know you will.

My cup runneth over.