I know for me, being a mom its easy to get caught up in the excitement of Easter! Fun Easter Baskets for the kids, candy, toys, easter egg hunts, good food! I mean Easter is honestly one of my favorite holidays! I love surprising the kids and the husband with fun things on Easter!
Sometimes through all of the fun of this holiday, it is so easy to forget the reason we celebrate Easter. The real reason is because of the infinite Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope that we can all not forget why we are celebrating this day. I hope that for me, I can try to make this holiday celebrate more of Jesus Christ than anything else. I hope that on this Easter Sunday I can sit and think of how great a love the Savior must have for me, and for each of us, to give his life for us. I hope that this Easter I can build and strengthen my testimony even more of the blessings of the atonement, and not just stuff my face with robin's eggs:)
I love the talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, in the April 2009 conference. I remember this talk vividly, and how I felt as he spoke those sweet but tear tugging words.
Here is the talk, and I urge you all to read it.
But I will quote a little of it where he says:
"One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so....."
"As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,” 21 for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."
I am grateful for the love of my Savior, and the pain that he endured so that I could return to him, and be with him; through my faithfulness. And be with my family for the rest of eternity! I love the Savior, and pray that I can become more like him, day by day.
