If the Tomb wasn't empty, then Everything Else Is
Faith isn't an accessory, it's the foundation of a life well lived
A few years ago my family was blessed to find a home on a few acres outside of town. For 15yrs before that, we lived in town where traffic noise and the sounds of the city life permeated the air around the clock.
And we loved that house. I mean honestly, when you have three kids under the age of 5, it’s not like calm and quiet are really possible anyway. But as the kids grew older and we took them on adventures further and further from the noise at home, we began longing for more room and quieter surroundings.
Peace and quiet has long been one of the reasons I love getting up before the sun. One of the things I love the most about our new home is the silence that fills the air before the sun starts to rise. Getting up before anyone else (except the dogs) lets me to watch the sun slowly light up the mountains as I drink my coffee, pray, and read. It is food for my soul that I can’t fully explain.
But yesterday was different. For one thing, instead of sipping coffee quietly in the darkness of my living room, the day started with a pre-dawn drop-off of my son Jake at the airport. Driving back home, alone in the dark, I listened to a meditation read by Sr. Bernice and I was struck by a previously unconsidered reality of Christ’s absence from the world the morning after his crucifixion. As I started a fire and began brewing coffee for the men who attend my Saturday morning Fire and Legends sessions, I found myself thinking about what it would have been like to watch the sun begin to slowly light up an otherwise “lifeless” world.
Would the birds even sing? Would the rooster crow? My neighbors have horses, would I get to hear them neigh and paw the ground, anxious to be fed? Would the wind stir the branches of the trees in the same way? Would the snow-capped Three Sisters Mountains begin to glow as the sun struck their peaks, or would the whole world be dull and still in the absence of the one from whom abundance of life flows?
I’ve watched the sun rise from above the clouds on top of Haleakalā in Maui, and I’ve seen it’s glow light up the igloo I was sleeping in with my boys on Mt. Hood. I’ve watched the Elkhorn Mountains begin to glow while hunting the great wapiti, and I’ve watched deer rise to drink from high mountain lakes at dawn. No matter where I am when I see it, thee sunrise always makes me feel the same way: ALIVE!
And I think it begs the question: If the sunrise makes me feel alive in such a powerful way, what was I before it rose? Not to say that I was dead (if I was then my cold plunge before coffee each morning wouldn’t be nearly as intense) but perhaps I wasn’t yet fully alive. I hope you’ve experienced a few epic sunrises yourself. Take a moment and go back to that place and time. Smell the air. Feel the breeze. Listen to the quiet. On mornings like those it seems oh so clear to me that we are not just awaked by the day, we are in fact resurrected.
Resurrected: renewed, to bring back to life, to have new vigor
I don’t know if birds sang the morning after Jesus died.
I don’t know how many roosters crowed.
I know that the sun rose and the horses were fed.
I’m also sure that many people felt their lives no longer had any purpose or meaning.
As I laid down in bed last night, I thought about how many people are struggling with those same thoughts today. How many are lonely, overwhelmed, confused, or without hope? How many are struggling through painful and dark nights, wondering if the morning can bring them new life?
I don’t have it all figured out.
I’m pretty sure you don’t either.
And that’s okay.
I do know the sun will rise tomorrow.
And I know that the empty grave means your life can be full.
What’s keeping you from waking up each day fully alive? Who can you talk to about it?
Make the call, send the text, ask the question.
Your life is far too precious for you to risk missing the sunrise.
He Is Risen.
(Incidentally, this year for Lent I’ve enjoyed following the Pray 40 devotional on the Hallow app even though I’m not Catholic. I have found the process highly impactful and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who’s curious to hear more wisdom and insight from Sr. Bernice, Fr. Mike, or even Mark Wahlberg)