Day 30: Easter butterflies

 Open immediately. 

A square white and green box lay on the front porch after dinner.  My husband brought it in and set in on the dining room table as we cleared it.  Miles eyes went bright.  "What's that?!?!" He screamed.  But he already knew. Children crowded around me as I carefully pulled out the two jars on tiny caterpillars. They were so small.  Would they really be butterflies in three short weeks?

Just before dinner I had taken Zander to the park for an evening scoot. The golden light landed on everything painting it with magic of the promise of warm days to come. I've been excited all week as the forecast predicts warmer and warmer sunny days reaching up to the 70s this weekend.  

I'm so hungry for longer,  warmer days. I'm ready for Easter and our spring break vacation to the desert. I'm looking forward to summer.  Evenings in the backyard instead of in front of YouTube.  I'm excited for the end of Lent. Relaxing all my lenten practices and celebrating the joy of Easter.  

But I'm looking forward to more than that. I'm looking forward to Eddie's graduation and the start of a new chapter in his life.  I'm looking forward to the possibility of miles joining his brothers at the Lutheran school.  I'm looking forward to Zander being fully potty trained and starting preschool.

I read the headlines and I'm looking forward to a new resolution to the turmoil in Haiti and an end to the wars in Israel and Ukraine. 

I'm looking forward to the solutions that Eddie's generation will invent for the world we are giving them. 

I'm an looking forward to the day where Christ returns and ushers in a new heaven and a new earth. When all the tears will be wiped from our eyes. 

Sometimes hope is violent and desperate. 

When we hope for a cure for an incurable disease. 

When we hope for rebirth in the thrashes of addiction. 

Sometimes hope is gentle.  

Hoping for better weather or better days.  

Hoping for creation to renew itself again after a wildfire or flood.  

Hope is a spiritual practice. 

Hope is a trust in the goodness of God.  In the uncertainty that lay ahead, hope asserts that God will be present with us.  Hope asserts that the last word is one of joy.  

We are Easter butterflies. Our story doesn't end with a silent chrysalis but with wings to fly and flowers to pollinate. This world is an Easter butterfly too. God loves this little blue planet and all the creatures in it.  One day she shall be made new.