It’s Easter week so I’ve been thinking about Easter and the beliefs I was raised with. How I feel about it now and my ideas about it in my childhood have certainly changed. No matter what I believe now, I like the core idea behind the Easter story, its about hope and renewal.
When asked how the meaning of Easter has changed for her over time, Anne Lamott describes an experience that changed the meaning of the holiday for her:
“When I was 38, my best friend, Pammy, died, and we went shopping about two weeks before she died, and she was in a wig and a wheelchair. I was buying a dress for this boyfriend I was trying to impress, and I bought a tighter, shorter dress than I was used to. And I said to her, ‘Do you think this makes my hips look big?’ and she said to me, so calmly, ‘Anne, you don’t have that kind of time.’ And I think Easter has been about the resonance of that simple statement; and that when I stop, when I go into contemplation and meditation, when I breathe again and do the sacred action of plopping and hanging my head and being done with my own agenda, I hear that, ‘You don’t have that kind of time,’ you have time only to cultivate presence and authenticity and service, praying against all odds to get your sense of humor back.”
I love that last part. Here is a question to ponder: what agenda do you want to be done with and what else do you want to cultivate? Go play with that more, go spread some hope and love, we could all use more of that.
Take good care of each other,
Susan