Spring is Springing

It's Spring. Easter Sunday. The bluebonnets have bloomed, and other wildflowers are in their full glory. The Glory of the Lord is being revealed, because Handel wrote the Messiah to coincide with Easter, not Christmas.

This Sunday is about being with family, religious beliefs aside. People have traveled all over to spend this day with parents, grandparents, sisters, cousins, uncles, etc. Some people will have huge gatherings with lots of children underfoot, searching for eggs. Some people will gather at their church for services, followed by a family meal, then more church. There are a few people who camp out in state parks Easter weekend; given the wildfire situation in Texas right now, I hope everyone doing that stays safe.

I think that it is great that people gather for holidays to spend time as a family. But why do they need a holiday? Is there a reason that people have to have a special day to visit their parents or grandparents? Perhaps. Maybe there is residual baggage that we carry with us, vestiges of our childhood, that prevent us from seeing our family for what they are: just people. Maybe we can't let go of anger at being the middle child, or the oldest, or the youngest. Maybe our younger brother stole our favorite toy at some point, and we are still mad about it. We may still resent our parents for not showing up at our fifth grade assembly because they had to work and couldn't get time off.

There's many other reasons that we shy away from big family gatherings. I know that I am easily overwhelmed by lots of noise and competing conversations, and I am sure that I am not the only person sensitive to such things. Since we are having the family come to our house this year, my stress level is tripled by the need for everything to be perfect, with the simultaneous understanding that it will never, ever be.

This day, maybe we can let go of our hangups, our anger, our fears that hold us back from family members. Maybe today, just for today, we can let go of those feelings that keep us separated from those around us. Maybe today we can concentrate on laughter, joy, and the beauty of wildflowers, and just BE.