Poetry Saturday . . . If Easter Be Not True . . .

If Easter be not true,
Then all the lilies low must lie;
The Flanders poppies fade and die;
The spring must lose her fairest bloom
For Christ were still within the tomb . . .
If Easter be not true.



If Easter be not true,
Then faith must mount on broken wing;
Then hope no more immortal spring;
Then hope must lose her mighty urge;
Life prove a phantom, death a dirge . . .
If Easter be not true.



If Easter be not true,
'Twere foolishness the cross to bear;
He died in vain who suffered there;
What matter though we laugh or cry,
Be good or evil, live or die,
If Easter be not true.



If Easter be not true . . .
But it is true, and Christ is risen!
And mortal spirit from it's prison
Of sin and death with Him may rise!
Worthwhile the struggle, sure the prize,
Since Easter, aye, is true!
~Henry H Barstow



I was talking to my elderly friend Doreen yesterday. I dropped off an Easter bunny to her to wish her a happy Easter, and we got to talking . . .

"How do we know that Jesus did what he did, or that he was raised from the dead," she asked . . . "Or if there is a life after death??? . . . Nobody has come back to tell us."

"Oh, but they have Doreen." was my reply. "The Saviour, Himself . . . came back to tell us. He appeared outside the tomb on Easter morning, to Mary . . . and then later on that day to His Disciples. And there were many, many more that He appeared to during the 40 days before he ascended into Heaven, and that saw Him. Thomas touched Him, and placed his hands in the Saviour's side, and brushed his finger tips across the wounds in the palms of His hands . . . This I know to be true, with all of my heart and my being. For I have seen Him too . . . each time I open my scriptures and read His words . . . I gaze upon His face and feel of His love for me, for you . . . and for everyone. He would not tell us things that are not so, or promise things that cannot be. He has not left us in the dark, without hope or promise. He lives. I know He lives. I trust in that and I live my life based on that which I know to be true."

Source: google.com via Bonnie on Pinterest

And I do know these things to be true, with every fibre of my being, and while my heart aches for the price that He willingly paid so that we too might live again . . . it also swells with gratitude, and ever shall. The cross was not the end . . . it was a new beginning.

“The "good news" was that death and hell could be escaped, that mistakes and sins could be overcome, that there was hope, that there was help, that the insoluble was solved, that the enemy had been conquered. The good news was that everyone's tomb could one day be empty, that everyone's soul could again be pure, that every child of God could again return to the Father who gave them life.”
― Jeffrey R. Holland




Although I am still not able to cook much of anything, there is some tasty Easter Bark over in The English Kitchen this morning. It's a doddle!