Rejoice

The word for today is rejoice.

It's kind of an odd word for the beginning of Holy Week.  Tulips, symbols of new life, might be an odd picture for the beginning of Holy Week.  I even feel guilty about posting them.

We haven't yet shared the last supper, or witnessed the trials, or overheard the conversation with Herod, or walked the road to Golgotha, or felt the pain of the crucifixion, or the known the loss of Holy Saturday.  Why post tulips?   Why even whisper the word rejoice?

Because we live on this side of Easter, and even the experience of Lent does not separate us from being post-resurrection Christians.  It's a gift to us that no matter how dark it as, how much pain we anticipate, or how many trials are coming our way, we are still children of the resurrection.  Tulips are our flower.  Rejoice is our byword.

God is with us.  Even in the darkness.  Rejoice and anticipate new life.