I sat with a lovely and very special young woman today who will be spending Easter without family or friends for the first time. This made her understandably sad. When I asked her what Easter meant to her she shared that she associated it with family and services at the church she attended while growing up.
This Easter she will be far away from family and church and it will follow some excruciating losses. We explored these losses for a time, how they felt, what they had cost her, and what they would continue to cost. It was a painful process, this tallying up. And it was far too soon to acknowledge the gifts that might appear as she moved further along this new and lonely leg of her journey. Like the seeds of spring that eventually deliver summer flowers, they would remain invisible for now.
And then we began to explore the deeper and more personal meanings of Easter, those that went beyond the sentimental memories of Easter dresses, Easter baskets, egg hunts and the big breakfast at church. In addition to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus with family, friends, and spiritual community, she realized that there was another universal and yet very personal message that she would acknowledge and even celebrate this Easter – that beginnings follow endings, new life involves the release of the old, and even in the inhospitable midst of despair, hope can live.
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