Working on major holidays always makes for an interesting night. I’ve only actually ever worked on one Christmas Eve – and I’ll never forget it – but yesterday evening/this morning was the first Easter I had ever worked. I kept my fingers crossed.
Of course, on this day of new life and rebirth, the horrible tragedies just kept rolling in. A horrific set of injuries in a car accident; a husband whose wife had stabbed him in the neck and whom we have to take the OR; a young man shot through his car windshield into his arms, face, and back; a young women found floating in a creek near her wrecked car.
My God, my God – why have you forsaken us?
I forced myself to get a bite to eat before leaving this morning. The cafeteria was basically empty, and the options were slim. But I settled for a yogurt, juice, and a corn muffin.
It’s hard not to think of family on Easter Sunday, and as I ate that silly muffin my thoughts drifted to my grandfather. He attested that the Revolutionary War was won, in no small part, because of corn. Fresh, New Jersey corn on the cob, to be exact. According to him, the bloody Lobster Backs were so entranced by the fresh corn that they couldn’t help but to just keep eating it – and all the while with the Yankees shooting away, winning the war, one ear at a time!
And while telling that story always makes me smile, it somehow saddened me to tell it only to myself, with no one else around to hear. Still fresh in the wake of the destruction that was the night before, I felt lonely, even further from the message of Easter.
My prayer this Easter – for me and for you – is to feel the warmth of the love of the risen Christ. He is with us in the car accidents; he is with us during the shootings and the stabbings, no matter which side of things we find ourselves on. And he is with us during somber moments of reflection. May we never feel alone – because we are not.
Happy Easter!
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