lead me to the cross.

the cross.

i can't think of another image that means so many things to me.  pain.  surrender.  sacrifice.  grace.  love.  forgiveness.  and ultimately... hope.

easter snuck up on me this year.  anyone who knows me knows that i love to decorate and i love, love, loooove holidays.  nothing over the top; just special traditions with the girls, some cute outfits and making sweet memories.  this year, we have a lone pot of daffodils on our entryway buffet.  no painted eggs.  no pretty flowery wreaths.  no dishes of easter candy.

notice a theme?  a whole lot of nothing.

and yet, as i prepare my heart for easter, i'm reminded that that's okay.  the decorations and easter baskets, bunnies and pastel colors are beautiful, fun and festive... but far from what this season is all about.

especially today.

easter is a celebration.  good friday?  well, left without the resurrection message is incredibly dark and depressing (good thing we know the end of the story).  i'm sure you've heard of a little ole movie called "the passion of the christ", released a few years back.  i can still remember going to see it in the movie theatre with some of my best friends and my sister.  yall, i was a mess.  i mean... a mess.  like, wrecked for days.  i just couldn't stop crying.  a couple of years ago, nick&i decided to watch it one night on the eve of easter.  we didn't really want to.  but we thought our hearts needed it.  we both sat there and bawled like babies.

here is a clip set to one of my favorite worship songs... what a beautiful (and very hard to watch) montage.  (just a warning: it is intense and graphic)

the gospel message shouldn't be fluffy, neat and pretty.  it is messy and beautiful.  and you don't get the beautiful without the messy.

pain mingled with love.  sacrifice intertwined with grace.  despair colored by HOPE.

it's not easy for me to think of the cross.  of the pain that it took to save.  and the unconditional love that was poured out through incomprehensible sacrifice ... for me.  sometimes, it wrecks me.  and i need it to more and more.

but it's because of that cross that we have hope.  that we have a savior who cannot be contained.  one who loves beyond imagination, and who rescues us and redeems us; one who calls us by name.

may we not get so caught up in the beauty of easter that we forget the cross.  uncomfortable?  yes.  painful?  sure.  necessary?  absolutely.

because of the cross, we know the fullest value of how we are loved.  by a savior who has defeated the grave.  

and that, is why we celebrate.