When I was a boy, my grandmother lived in an in-law apartment adjacent to our home.  I lived in that house in Somerset, MA for most of my childhood. My sister and I enjoyed many holidays with our mom and “Gram.” My mother went through a divorce when I was only 4 years old and remarried when I was 9. For about 5 years I lived with three women! Gram was an excellent cook, so you might imagine that the holidays were filled with a lot of great smells and wonderful memories. Gram died when she was only 67. I was 22. She had a rare disease called scleroderma that eventually led to cancer in her esophagus. I grieve that she was not able to meet my wife and 3 children. She would have loved to give them Easter baskets like she did every year for me and my sister.

I can see the basket clearly in my mind. It was some sort of white chicken with a carrot nose and a pink hat. She filled it with candy every year, but as I turned 5 or 6, I appreciated those sweet treasures more and more. White chocolate bunnies (which were not my favorite), jellybeans, Reese’s Pieces carrots, and Cadbury Easter Eggs spilled over the side of the basket that seemed just a bit too small. As my Gram became increasingly sick, she could no longer eat and received her nutrition though a PEG tube in her stomach. One night, shortly before she died, we needed to call an ambulance for her in the middle of the night. It was near Halloween. As the paramedics wheeled her out of the front door, her fragile arm reached out and grabbed the jam, stopping the paramedic. She looked back at me and said, “Kyle, the Halloween candy is in the cupboard.” I was 22! She bought me candy ‘til her dying day.

Another Easter has passed…So what? Easter candy, baskets, and egg hunts are all good fun of course, but Easter is about so much more than that. It’s the day that Christians all over the world, for 2000 years, have celebrated the resurrected Christ. If Jesus is alive, then that means we don’t have to be afraid of sickness. We don’t have to be afraid of cancer. We don’t have to be afraid of loneliness. We don’t have to be afraid of failure or guilt. We don’t have to be afraid of anything! Jesus told a woman named Martha, at the death of her brother, 

“…I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11”25b-26)

I will see Gram again! But heaven isn’t heaven because Gram is there. Heaven is heaven because God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, our life and light, is there. Because Jesus is alive, there is hope. Come and get Him!

An occasional column written by local clergy. The views expressed in the column do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.