The meaning of Easter: To Believe

Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “… do not be unbelieving, but believe.” 
- John 20:27

If you never went hungry I guess you would never truly appreciate the feast that has been prepared for you. If you never felt loneliness I guess you would never truly appreciate the meaning of fellowship, friendship and companionship. 

If you do not know something how can you say you can relate to it and appreciate the entirety of its nature? 

Perhaps that is why so many people tend to overlook the significance of Easter, the day of Resurrection. How can you believe a “man” who was crucified for the sins of the world “rose from the dead” on the third day to give us His final message: BELIEVE.

What does it mean to believe? If you never needed Jesus I guess you would never understand what it means to truly believe in Him and all that He can provide. You wouldn’t know how He whispers in your ear when you are filled with doubt and how He tells you “If I am for you, who dare be against you?” How He tells you to “Let go and let God” when all of your burdens are weighing you down and you feel all hope is gone nor could you understand the depth in His words “I am with you always” if you have never felt the cruelty of the world when you feel all you have is yourself and like your back is against the wall.

I suppose a healthy person would never appreciate medicine as a person who is dying from a disease would. Thanks to my trials and tribulations I have gotten to know Jesus and seen His work. I have witnessed His comfort when all I had in this life seem to be gone and I hope you would take today to get to know Him and believe in all He has to offer. 

Do not be misconstrued with the flesh, with the pope, priests, pastors, and nuns who help spread the name of Jesus because under the clothes and over them they are nothing more than human and are in need of God just as much as the next person. Do not turn your back on Jesus because a Christian may have turned their back to you, for at the end of the day Jesus’ greatest message to the world was “To Love your neighbor as I have loved you.” He rose on the third day to show us all that it IS possible. Nothing in this life is IMPOSSIBLE. The word itself says IM -POSSIBLE! So Believe! Believe that you too can make the world a better place, you can transform your life and sing victory onto your day, believe in Jesus and the love and power He has given to you…because to know Jesus is truly a beautiful thing. 

Happy Easter Family! 

LOVE FACTOR

One of the greatest gifts in life is to love, and to be loved in return. We can all agree that at times love is a bittersweet experience that tends to find ways to strip us from where we stand and forces us to think outside of our normal self.

My friend recently shared a message with me that I wanted to share with you:
“Someone close to me once said relationships are like a dance: One factor they miss is that dancers must be able to BEND. If you are unwilling to bend in your relationship then it will surely break. A dance is always about BOTH partners and THEIR ability to complement one another, but perfecting that dance takes WORK and DEDICATION.”

It is easy to get wrapped up in how we operate as individuals that we hold our significant others accountable for not doing things the way we want them or what we consider to be right. In a relationship I do believe both partners must learn and master how to be flexible and how to make room for error if you intend for your relationship to last. We must remember that all relationships are about that four letter word: W-O-R-K...and if you are not willing to put in work, how can you expect your relationship to last? Remember to recite this phrase when we encounter days and moments where we feel unbearable with our significant other: (Please recite the following to yourself before you make any actions or utter words that might hurt the situation rather than making it better)

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Remember we are human, with every new second that passes by we are learning and experiencing new things; with each new experience and lesson we go through in life, come changes. No person remains the same, the "five year old" you thought and reacted differently than the "today" you so why expect that you or your significant other will be the same? Learn how to relearn your loved one EVERYDAY, remember that it takes a lot of work to keep a successful relationship and more importantly learn how to respect them: Body, mind, and Spirit. 

Let us look to our Holy Father for learning how to deal with relationships: He is patient, He thankfully does not hold a tab on our wrongdoings, and more importantly He WORKS with us on a daily basis…remember that “Love never fails”

Stay ENCOURAGED!