(to download your copy of this Epiphany quote meme or any one of the many others – go to the drop down menu under Epiphany Channel to Inspirational Downloads.)
Happy Easter! And Happy Passover too (even though it started on Friday)! I love that tonight I’m going to a Seder dinner on Easter. I was raised Catholic and Easter was one of the most celebrated holidays in my family growing up — always a huge gathering of extended family. As Catholics, we were coming out of 40 days of Lent, so Easter was a feast, a major celebration. And usually during Lent, we took on something that was difficult or that we didn’t really enjoy doing but knew it was good for us (ie: made up our bed every day or shared with our siblings all the time) or we “gave up” something — something that we loved that usually wasn’t great for us anyway (ie: candy, soda, tattling, yelling at our siblings … I was the oldest of 4, so in case you can’t tell, those were some of mine. ;)).
One Lent when I was a child, my mother gave up smoking and she could never pick up the habit again, even though she tried. She hated the taste of it and any pleasure she’d had from it before was gone. She let go of something and stayed disciplined for 40 days, and then, the desire, the craving, the taste for it was … gone. (Thank goodness!!) Renewal. Easter is about spring, renewal, resurrection, new beginnings—a new chapter and way of being. I don’t really practice Lent now but I love the premise. And I love the message of Passover too — it’s about spring and freedom. These holidays and this time of year is about letting go of what hasn’t been working or what maybe isn’t so great for you, and renewing your life. A rebirth. A re-choosing. Faith. Starting a new chapter and blooming into something beautiful. What will your new chapter be?
If you want to take your musings a step further, here are some writing prompts from the entry with Bart Knagg’s epiphany in Epiphany: The Journal:
- Write about a dream(s) you’ve had to let go.
- Write about what letting go of a dream led to.
- Write about the new dreams you are creating and living now.
