Celebration

SAT., APR. 10, 1982, 6:55 AM
FARM, KITCHEN TABLE

Low in the grave He lay… the day of least celebration (or so it seems) has dawned with clearness and beauty. You pause in the midst of your travels, o son, to hear My voice in this season of ultimate celebration. From this should come some thoughts appropriate to share with the intergenerational group tomorrow.

True celebration may involve many of the emotions, unified and coordinated by the spirit. This says, importantly, that an important (yes, that is your mistake… you are not concentrating as you should. Pause… and listen with your mind and spirit)… that the celebration of Easter must include this time of apparent defeat. It is the remembrance that the crucifixion was over and done, and My body was laid to rest in a tomb. My life in the earth was not long and apparently had not accomplished much. Yesterday you were feeling comparable thoughts about yourself as a parent. It was a time of feeling that the great and noble venture you had attempted had been of no consequence. You even had that occasionally recurring thought that I would not have been a good parent either. And today is still a part of that low portion of celebration.

Yet know, o son, that the victory is assured. You can remember this time in the grave, but not without the fuller knowledge that tomorrow always comes up Resurrection. You needn’t forget that, or even pretend or try to forget that ultimate triumph. In somewhat comparable fashion you can recall your shortcomings as a parent, but not without the fuller knowledge that your three older sons openly acknowledge Me and serve Me… and that is the ultimate success in any life pattern. Their differences, one from the other, in approach to Me is partly by choice and partly by design. (And, yes, I shall say again that Matthew, the youngest, shall come to Me and serve Me also, with genuine quality.)

There is yet another parallel that I must bring to your attention and about which I need to assure you. You must remember sin and repent of that sin, but you need not forget nor try to forget the saving grace that is the penultimate well-spring. You are saved. You are forgiven. Grace is not something that comes in intermittent spurts. It does not disappear as you move away from Me, in myriad ways. It is not withheld as you sin. The victory of Easter is complete. There are different manifestations of that victory, and some are still to come, but Grace doth abound now and forever more. This is eternal celebration. I celebrate this, and so should you.

You remember the cross on which I hung and the grave in which I lay, but always against the vision of an empty cross and a glorious, freeing Easter morn. Celebrate the victory!

You remember your sins, shortcomings, and “not-to-be’s”, but always illuminated by the grace I give, freely and without merit. If you are forgiven you could proceed boldly to develop your sinning nature… but if you do that the remembrance of grace dims and fades and you forget that you are forgiven. The sharp remembrance of forgiveness is the best limiter of sin. And, yes, it can even transform an act (the same act) from one tinged with sin to one lovely in My sight.

Celebration should be a total experience. It should enfold the feelings of doubt, concern, bleakness, and despair that are part of life. It brings the light of My life, My offering of Myself, and the love for you and for each into its rightful central place. Celebration nudges the negatives to the side, not denying their reality, and brings joy for all that life is. Celebrate. As often as you can. Even this day… as well as tomorrow.

Peace
8:04 AM
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