Today, I drove to a cemetery in south Mississippi, a couple of hours away, where my Daddy and several other relatives are buried. I haven't felt good, all week, but the thought of Daddy having red roses and Christmas greens on his grave for Easter served as my motivation.....well, that and an Excedrin and downing a dosage cup full of Delsym at a red light.

Anyway, I made the trip and parked near where his grave is. I opened the back of my car to get out everything I needed. I looked around and saw that I was the only one in the beautiful cemetery. It was so quiet and peaceful with a nice breeze blowing. Most of the graves were dressed with fresh looking spring bouquets, undoubtedly, recently left by loving relatives for the occasion of Easter week. I walked over to Daddy's headstone and removed the faded red roses and changed them out for something more appropriate for this season of new life. A sort of monochromatic bouquet of blues and purples. I thought it looked nice against his black marble headstone, which stood to remind me that his date of passing was just a few days ago. It's been 9 years.

I finished up there and headed back to the car to get my second load of flowers for my maternal grandparents' graves. Their plots are pretty close to Daddy's and I walked over there to give their vases a facelift. I'd brought a knife and, because their vases are more difficult to work with, I just plopped down on the ground to cut the foam and try to get it all secure in there.

As I sat there, I looked around and thought about all the lives that were represented there in that place. Just from my family alone, there was quite a crowd gathering there. My father, maternal grandparents, two uncles, my mother's cousin, two of my first cousins, my uncle's mother, my first cousin's wife, and a second cousin's young wife. That's who I could come up with, off the top of my head, but I'm sure there were others there, who I was forgetting.

There are a lot of stories in a cemetery. A lot of tragic ones. From where I was sitting, I could see my mother's cousin's headstone. He died, many decades ago, as a 23 year old in a car wreck. My cousin's wife's grave was a ways off to my left. She died, not so long ago, in a wreck, leaving 2 small children and a newborn behind. Close to her was one of my cousins, who died unexpectedly, this past Christmas day, while enjoying Christmas lunch at his mom's house. On the other side of me was where my beautiful cousin was, who didn't survive her 40's because of breast cancer. That doesn't cover the others, who lived a lot longer, but lost their ability to remember or died of heart disease or some other age related malady. And those were just the stories I knew among the countless headstones under all those oak trees.

I made my way back to the car and was careful to notice a few of the headstones, along the way. With a little arithmetic, I could see that some were given many, many years to enjoy life and died in their 80's or 90's. Others were taken so young like the 41 year old woman, who died about 25 years ago or the 18 year old who's been gone for several years or the grave of the toddler marked by a statue of a child playing.

For every stone in that place, there was a life and a family and a story and a soul. A lot of suffering. Physical pain. Shock. Grief. Chemotherapy. An accident. Surgery. A phone call. For every name etched in marble, there was a family who felt a void. Parents who lost a child. A wife who went home to an empty house. A child who'd grow up without a mother. In this life, there are just a lot of troublesome situations in which we can find ourselves. Frailty, sickness, aging, weakness. All have their way with us, eventually. Some stories are just more tragic and heart wrenching than others.

With all of the bright Easter bouquets around me, I thought about Jesus. How He voluntarily came here to this place to live among us and experience all the pain and limitations of our existence. He left perfection to take on about 33 years of knowing what it was like to feel tired, lonely, cold, hungry, rejected, disappointed, aggravated, betrayed, sorrowful, distressed, and a million other emotions, stings, and hindrances that we endure in this earthly life.

He did that, so that He could relate to us when we feel those same tentacles grip us. All of those people in that cemetery had experienced life, at its best and its worst, and had finished the course laid out for them and He could relate to each and every one of the emotions they ever felt and could minister to all the physical burdens they pulled along behind them, each day. But, He also came so that, when life comes to its inevitable end, as it had for them and will for us, that there would still be hope left. That there would be more. That there would be life on the other side of that physical end. He came to experience our sin-scarred life, so that we could experience the perfect life that He left to dwell among us.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16

Not only did He endure the trials and constraints that we face in our daily existence, but He took it a colossal step further. He was flogged and beaten and mocked and crucified. I'd dare say that none of us has endured that level of human suffering. He did all of that so that He could offer something better for those who'd believe He's the only way to salvation. Something perfect and beautiful and glorious and eternal.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16   

I don't know how you'll celebrate Easter. We've got family gatherings and church decorating and another cemetery visit and church services and big meals. You may have egg hunts, consume a lot of ham and deviled eggs, and don a new dress for church. No matter what you do, just remember to thank Him for His sacrifice. He came to live here and experience the very worst we could offer in order to give us a path to experience the very best that He could offer.

And that's what Easter is all about, Charlie Brown.
Hope it's a blessed and worshipful Easter for you and your family.