Happy Easters!

My favorite line from Nacho Libre is when he serves the priest food and the priest complains "do you not know that I have had diarrhea since easters?" I love that line. Ever wonder about the etymology behind the word "easter"? Check out this link. Of course it's pagan.

I thought these were some interesting thoughts from this article on Easter over at NRO:

Given the solemn nature of Easter, which celebrates ot the happy birth of a child as does Christmas, but the awesome themes of suffering, death, atonement, and resurrection, it is always conceptually difficult to festoon the paschal season with the rounds of merrymaking that characterize the end of December.

Still, it is sad and disconcerting that the oldest and holiest of Christian festivals is simply ignored by the media (and almost everyone else), and that Christians have acquiesced to the near-disappearance of their highest feast day from public consciousness.

Though we may — like the soldiers who boozed and gambled at the foot of the cross as salvation unfolded before them — ignore the phenomenon of redemption, Easter is above all a feast of hope. And as Augustine of Hippo wrote, “We are an Easter people.”

Anyway, I've just been thinking a lot recently about how blessed I have been. This weekend has been kind of slow in comparison to the last few, but I have just been enjoying everything just so doggon' much. It's been great. It is interesting to me how when I've become most committed to the idea of Utah and BYU, I feel like I'm getting full exposure to just how great it is to live here in Southern California. In any case, while going through all of these things I've just been feeling so incredibly blessed and grateful for everything that is going on, and for everything that lies ahead of me. This Easter season is especially welcome because I think I've been privy to the grace of God. I think it has less to do with the fact that I'm being abundantly blessed, and more to do with an increased level of discernment to realize those blessings that have been there this whole time.

Last night I had a talk with my best friend's dad that lasted a couple of hours. For so long I have worried about him and his situation. To say the least, it has been a rough couple of years for him, but for the first time in a long time I really felt like he was starting to feel some relief. I wouldn't have ever guessed that before talking to him last night - not ever. From my own recent experiences, coupled with what I heard in that conversation, it really just amazes me how much the Lord works in our favor. While it may be so hard to see when surrounded by walls of despair that feel like they are collapsing inward, nevertheless, it is so comforting to know that behind the scenes there is a perfectly loving being who is working in our behalf.

A couple of talks that speak to this point come from General Conference addresses. I think I've posted this one before, but this is from Elder Holland talking about the High Priest of good things to come. From the talk:

No, it is not without a recognition of life's tempests but fully and directly because of them that I testify of God's love and the Savior's power to calm the storm. Always remember in that biblical story that He was out there on the water also, that He faced the worst of it right along with the newest and youngest and most fearful. Only one who has fought against those ominous waves is justified in telling us--as well as the sea--to "be still."Only one who has taken the full brunt of such adversity could ever be justified in telling us in such times to "be of good cheer." Such counsel is not a jaunty pep talk about the power of positive thinking, though positive thinking is much needed in the world. No, Christ knows better than all others that the trials of life can be very deep and we are not shallow people if we struggle with them. But even as the Lord avoids sugary rhetoric, He rebukes faithlessness and He deplores pessimism. He expects us to believe!

I love the reassuring line from Elder Holland when he says that "the trials of life can be very deep and we are not shallow people if we struggle with them." Sometimes when we're going through those rough patches, it's hard not to feel stupid or weak, but those feelings of inadequacy are not uncommon to even the greatest people. The other talk I wanted to post was by Elder Wirthlin, Sunday Will Come. And then this quote from the talk:

On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God. I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world's history, that Friday was the darkest. But the doom of that day did not endure.

The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind. And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the firstfruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.

Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come.

Recently I have felt like Sunday has already come, many times over, and in ways that I never expected. Happy Easter everyone.