Oh, Happy Day!

I truly hope that you all enjoyed Easter yesterday. For me, every year of celebrating Christ's resurrection is better and sweeter than the last. I think that this is because every year brings me closer to the reality of death, as those around me die or experience the death of loved ones. But Christ's resurrection shows that those who trust in Him need not fear death. Every year brings me more familiarity with the realities of sin--my own first and foremost, but also the sin of a violent and depraved world. But Christ's resurrection shows that He has triumphed over sin, and that ultimately sin will be put away forever. Lastly, every year, by God's grace, brings me more knowledge of my Savior, Jesus Christ. And Christ's resurrection points to the reality that, one day, the Savior will be exalted above all.

The Wilcox family had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday, despite a bit of a rocky start. On Saturday, I went to bed very late, slept badly from midnight to 4:00, fed Matthew, and then around 5:00 finally fell into a deeper sleep. I had set my alarm for 6:20, but since I forgot to turn it on, I woke with a shock at 7:37 a.m. Realizing that Matthew was screaming (his monitor was turned all the way down), I bolted out of bed to go feed him and tried to figure out how I was going to get all of us out the door in only 40 minutes. (Answer: I didn't. But I did manage to do it in 50 minutes, praise the Lord, and thus we still made it to church on time!)

Meg stayed in "big church" through the singing, so I got to hold both of my babies and sing songs of rejoicing with them. Our choir did a roof-raising rendition of "Oh, Happy Day" and I prayed with all my heart that my little girl and boy will one day sing along with me:

Oh, happy day, (Oh, happy day)
Oh, happy day, (Oh, happy day)
When Jesus washed all my sins away!

I spent the rest of the service in the infant care room, feeding Matthew and holding him while he slept as I listened to CJ, our founding pastor, preach an amazing message about death and resurrection. My husband, as usual, spent the entire morning serving his heart out so that the congregation could worship without distraction. And all of his tech teams--set design, sound, video, lighting and lyric projection--did an outstanding job. I benefitted personally from their humble, hard work, and I know that many others did as well.

We spent the rest of the day at my mom's house, along with a few other guests. We cooked, feasted, talked, and did a little bit more singing. We also tried beginning a new tradition--that is, reading the story of Easter week from the gospels and hanging ornaments on an "Easter tree" as we read. I won't explain this in great detail, as our version still needs some refining. (Maybe next year, when, God willing, I will also remember to take pictures.) At last we came home, exhausted and grateful, put our babies to sleep, and fell into bed ourselves.

And this morning, I read an excellent post on the Girltalk blog, which reminds me that Easter isn't over for the year--because of what Christ has done, it goes on and on and on! Oh, happy day!