LIFE AFTER DEATH

When we think of Easter, we naturally think of resurrection. The story of the empty tomb reminds us of the joyous event to which we can all look forward: life after death.

The scriptures also speak of that new life starting now. "Eternal Life" can be seen as a quality of life with God rather than just a quality of years. If that's true, then what's to prevent the power of the resurrection from remaking our lives even now?

What's the resurrection spirit like? A woman in a convalescent home was given a party to celebrate her one hundredth birthday. Her pastor came to offer his congratulations. Later, the pastor said, "Her mind was keenly alert. When I arrived, she was completely caught up in the excitement of the birthday party. A reporter had come to interview her. And when he asked that high-spirited, one-hundred-year-old woman, 'Do you have any children?' she replied, without hesitation, 'Not yet!'"

What's the resurrected life like? A "crazy" artist spent hours painting a wall-sized mural of the Genesis Creation Story on a building that was going to be torn down. The resurrected life looks beyond itself. The same power of God who raised Jesus Christ from the tomb can work in our lives now to overhaul us; change our perspective; offer a new way of living.

It's not as simple as wishing you had something in your life and instantly it's there. It's more like trying to solve something, or figure something out and you get stuck. At the time there seems to be no solution. After leaving it sit a whole, or while doing something completely different, it comes to you in a flash. That's something like living a resurrected life. It is living with God, or allowing God to live through you. When God is present in your life dead-ends may turn into new paths. Dead relationships may bud again.

There are times when you need to look beyond yourself —even your own limits. If God is in your life, there's someone to look to who is greater than yourself. Problems, despair and the dark nights of the soul are still there, but they are not all that is there. The black nights don't last forever. What we may see as a dead end may not be a dead end, but our inability to see the total picture.

It's like the colors we see. There are more light waves that our human eyes can't see. Ultra-violet is always there, but we can't see it, yet bees find many flowers that reflect ultra-violet light. It's the same with the resurrected life. It's living with God whom we can't see, yet is there...and sees the whole picture.

What's the resurrected life like? It's like finding the priceless pearl of a lifetime that's worth giving up all else to possess.