"He is not here, but is risen" Luke 24:6

Today is Easter. I love Easter for many reasons.  I love watching our children search for eggs that aren't filled with anything-that's right. We hide empty eggs. Even our 16 year old likes to look for them. I enjoy watching our children see what kind of candy we put in their Easter baskets. Okay, it was my husband who did it. I am pretty bad at planning that stuff. My husband is awesome and remembers everything when it comes to the holidays. Our kids would probably have a can of nuts like I did growing up if it was left up to me:) Good thing I have Mr. Slack to save the day (understatement.)

I also love Easter because it is the looking forward to spring, the beginning of new birth and growth, the resurrection of life symbolized in everything around me. All the flowers and trees are singing of the resurrection and renewal of life-they are not dead, but are only sleeping. I can hardly wait for spring and the hope it brings with it of warmer weather. I love warmer weather. Did I say I LOVE warmer weather?

Which leads me to thoughts of Easter and Christ. First, everything around me is reminding me that Christ is alive! "He is risen" is what Easter is all about for all of us Matt. 28:6. Not only physically, but spiritually as well. No matter how dark our days are, "Sunday will Come", the day Christ was resurrected. (see this awesome talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin) It is a great metaphor for our lives. We all have black days, but Sunday always comes. Jesus Christ has promised us that it will come. He has said,"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25

As I partook of the sacrament today, the sacrament table is an alter, with the symbols of Christ's body on it covered in a white clothe, just as He was laid in the tomb. He is resurrected in each of us as we partake of these emblems and "take upon [us] the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given [us]".D&C 20:77 This is a powerful symbol and reality in which we choose to live. Christ makes us whole through His atonement and His resurrection. What an incredible gift to us. Our gift to him is our love for him. We show our love to him through our obedience to his commandments John 14:15. We are so loved!!! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 He is risen. And we can too. We don't have to stay where we are if we choose to change and become something more or different. It is an incredible and beautiful plan. It is a perfect plan. This I testify.