Mondays after a holiday can be a challenge – especially with little ones at home. Can I get an amen?
This particular Monday morning was exactly that – bleh. We had just come off a wonderful weekend filled with Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, candy, food, family, and celebration. In fact, if I could call a day perfect, that Easter Sunday seemed exceptionally perfect. There was more than one moment that I just wanted to freeze time – I didn’t want the day to end. Everyone was in a good mood, my boy’s cheeks seemed extra squishy and kissable, our nighttime snuggles were extra long, and we laughed until our bellies hurt; it was all so perfect.
Still Easter
But if this particular Monday morning had a theme song it would be, “Back to life, back to reality…” – welcome to Monday. In fact, if I could just erase that morning from my memory, I would. My 4-year-old son, Caleb, has one job in the morning – get himself dressed for school. On that morning when my darling adorable son walked out of his room, I handed him his clothes and said, “Good morning sweet heart, it’s time to get dressed; we have school today!” He then threw his clothes back at me and said, “But it’s still Easter! Easter is NOT OVER!”
This blissful tennis match continued on for…wait for it….45 minutes.
45.blissful.minutes.
“I’m NOT getting dressed! It’s still Easter! I’m not going to school!”
“Yes you are! If you don’t get dressed there will be a consequence!”
Did he not understand? I had a 9am meeting in Oak Brook, he had to be at school by 8am, my youngest had to be at his school by 8:20am – so much to do, so little time! This mama had an agenda.
After 30 glorious minutes of this tennis match, things got ugly. He cried; I allowed my not-so-calm-side to show.
Easter and the Voices in My Head
When we arrived to his school, I turned around to see him getting out of the car with tear stains still fresh on his rose colored cheeks. After dropping my other son off at school, I frantically sped onto the interstate to rush to my 9am meeting. With my heart still racing from the stress of the morning, I took a deep breath. For the next 5 minutes I replayed the entire morning through my mind. As I watched this movie play out, the only words that kept rolling through my mind were…
You’re a failure.
If you were a good mom, you would have handled things differently.
He’s only 4 years old, of course he’s going to have a bad morning.
You shouldn’t have reacted the way you did.
You’re a failure.
But then I heard a New Voice. It was the same thing my son was saying to me over and over this morning, but this time it was the Holy Spirit.
“Easter is not over.”
“It’s still Easter.”
It’s true. Easter is not over; today is Easter Monday and the good news of Easter continues! Today – the Monday after Easter – we have hope that those who are in Christ can live in the same power of the resurrection…here and now.
Transformed.
Made new.
Day by day. Our whole lives must be articulated in light of the resurrection Click To Tweet
Easter Monday
Our whole lives must be articulated in light of the resurrection, even on a difficult Monday at home. It is in the resurrection that our bodies of death are forever changed, reordered, and transformed. In her book, Marks of His Wounds, Beth Felker Jones writes,
“the Church will have to think corporately about how that eschatology must, if the Church is that of the Spirit who is Sanctifier, filter backward into our present embodied lives, making our bodies, in Christ, both a ‘living sacrifice’ and a ‘new creation.[1]”
This embodied eschatology is the life invaded by the living God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is by the Spirit that the embodied person can live in the presence of God in Christ as she is being transformed into God’s glorious image.
“Easter is not over.”
“It’s still Easter.”
At 8:45am in the morning I felt like a failure. But then the Holy Spirit reminded me that I am still being made new – into His image and into His likeness. Hear the words of Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18, NIV).
Have hope, church; we, the people of God, are being made new!
As the people of God, our bodies don’t forever remain broken; rather, we can have hope that God has not only saved us and included us into a great family, but God is still shaping us into holiness. Day by day, the Spirit is leading, transforming, and empowering us to reflect the resurrection to come.
“Easter is not over.”
“It’s still Easter.” Have hope, God is still shaping us into holiness. Click To Tweet
Thank God. He’s not done with us yet.
[1] Beth Felker Jones, Marks of His Wounds: Gender Politics and Bodily Resurrection (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2007), page 87.
Missio Alliance Comment Policy
The Missio Alliance Writing Collectives exist as a ministry of writing to resource theological practitioners for mission. From our Leading Voices to our regular Writing Team and those invited to publish with us as Community Voices, we are creating a space for thoughtful engagement of critical issues and questions facing the North American Church in God’s mission. This sort of thoughtful engagement is something that we seek to engender not only in our publishing, but in conversations that unfold as a result in the comment section of our articles.
Unfortunately, because of the relational distance introduced by online communication, “thoughtful engagement” and “comment sections” seldom go hand in hand. At the same time, censorship of comments by those who disagree with points made by authors, whose anger or limited perspective taints their words, or who simply feel the need to express their own opinion on a topic without any meaningful engagement with the article or comment in question can mask an important window into the true state of Christian discourse. As such, Missio Alliance sets forth the following suggestions for those who wish to engage in conversation around our writing:
1. Seek to understand the author’s intent.
If you disagree with something the an author said, consider framing your response as, “I hear you as saying _________. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, here’s why I disagree. _____________.
2. Seek to make your own voice heard.
We deeply desire and value the voice and perspective of our readers. However you may react to an article we publish or a fellow commenter, we encourage you to set forth that reaction is the most constructive way possible. Use your voice and perspective to move conversation forward rather than shut it down.
3. Share your story.
One of our favorite tenants is that “an enemy is someone whose story we haven’t heard.” Very often disagreements and rants are the result of people talking past rather than to one another. Everyone’s perspective is intimately bound up with their own stories – their contexts and experiences. We encourage you to couch your comments in whatever aspect of your own story might help others understand where you are coming from.
In view of those suggestions for shaping conversation on our site and in an effort to curate a hospitable space of open conversation, Missio Alliance may delete comments and/or ban users who show no regard for constructive engagement, especially those whose comments are easily construed as trolling, threatening, or abusive.