Easter...resurrection is busting out all over

I woke up in the dark this morning, the moon setting, to a ladybug walking across the landscape of my face. Michael had an early morning consultation walk with two businessmen and as I brushed the ladybug away, the alarm began to beep. The rooster had been crowing for awhile (he is a very early riser) but I had managed to ignore him. I lay in the moonlit darkness quietly giving thanks for this most amazing gift of resurrection. Resurrection is busting out all over Sabbath Rest Farm.
This weekend was filled with the busy bodies(and mouths) of Matthew, Mason and Mead as they swarmed all over the wonderful outdoors. Matthew learned to catch frogs in the pond... piggyback frogs mating with strings of eggs flowing from their bodies. He very kindly brought three of them up to the syrup kettle by our back door so I could hear the sound of frog song. They rode Junie B, gathered eggs, took a road trip with Pop to buy a few more chickens, helped pick up branches and trees along side the road left from the Christmas storm, rode the Kawasaki mule until it nearly gave out, rode the tractor with Pop while he spread composted manure on Grandma’s garden and helped Pop spray the cows for flies. The boys weren’t the only thing buzzing around the farm.
Bloodroot, Spring Beauties and daffodils are in full bloom. The two male blueberry bush trees are covered in white blossoms and the peach tree wears a ruffled pinafore of pink. The grass is a lush green carpet and already needs to be mowed. Lenten Roses, gifts from Kitherine and Jeannie, bloom shyly with their heads bowed. The willow tree by the pond wears a cloak of spring green. Everywhere I look, I see the renewal and resurrection of the natural world.
At church Sunday the preacher reminded us that resurrection began in darkness not light. And he offered words of comfort to those who are dwelling in darkness in this season of laughing light. When Mary came to the tomb under the cover of darkness, she saw a man she did not know, a gardener perhaps. And then, he called her by name...the darkness for Mary was not lifted until Jesus spoke her name, our preacher said. His final words were a prayer and a challenge... a challenge to listen for Jesus speaking our name, a prayer that we would hear our name called and be able to live our own resurrection story.
I stood at my kitchen sink this morning, looked up and saw words I use as a daily prayer on the wall above me. “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” The gift of Easter is this assurance of the binding together of all our wounds and brokeness into a newness of life that is filled with laughter, love and light. Resurrection explodes in my soul this Eastertide.
I believe that Jesus died and came to life again. How I do not know any more than I know how life begins again each spring from death. I do not need to know how. All I need to know is that new life can come from the ashes of death because Jesus calls my name. I am listening this spring, listening for Jesus calling me to new life, my own resurrection of spirit and I give thanks for dark tombs flooded with the light of life. Thanks be to God.