Danielle Blog

Almost Easter

I was going to wait and post this picture on Easter, because it partly speaks of Easter to me. You see, it has a lot of the right elements.

Water
Green
A glowing white flower

Life, birth
White in the midst of dark.
Hope & promise in the midst of despair

Spiritually, it feels right.

But emotionally, it doesn’t quite fit. Overall, it feels too dark, and not celebratory enough.

Therefore, I’m posting it today, in this in-between day.

My feelings about today may or may not be in line with how the church (universal) would like me to interpret the significance of today. But one of the great things about Christianity in the United Church of Christ is getting to interpret the bible in my own way and not being told how to think or feel about it (and not needing to worry about if my thoughts are ‘in line’ or ‘out of line’ with someone else’s interpretation of the bible).

In trying to interpret what today may mean, I have been thinking about the first Christians, the disciples, and I’ve been trying to imagine how they might have felt. I imagine that having just seen Jesus crucified, they were likely in mourning and were terrified that they might be next.

However, I cannot identify with those feelings. Since I know the resurrection is around the bend, I always feel like this in-between day is not as sad as Maundy Thursday and not as celebratory as Easter. Thus, it never feels quite like a true day of mourning to me. It feels, well, in-between.

I hope this makes sense. I know a fair number of my friends (and some family) are not Christian, so hopefully, you know enough of the story to understand what I’m trying to say.

Sometimes, more than others, I struggle between writing and photography to simply document my own thoughts and feelings and writing as a way to have a conversation with you.

(Note: I took this pic with a Sony Cyber-shot and did not photoshop it at all.)