Easter is past. It was two days ago. We can look at it as an event, and now life can return to normal. That would be tragic.  Easter is not an event we get over, like Thanksgiving or Valentine's Day. Easter is the alive, spiritual presence that empowers our lives, enables us to see a new spiritual dimension,  changes our values systems, and, as the Bible says, "opens our eyes."

Yes, the ordinary still happens, the tragic still happens, the boring still happens.

We just came from St. Barnabas Hospital. We got a call earlier today that our good friend Ethel was in a coma and was slipping. She might die before I finish writing this, or tonight, or tomorrow... it will be soon. 

My wife Judy and I spent some time with her husband Julie and their grown daughter and son. As we talked, Ethel lay in bed laboring for each breath. Many memories. She came to work with me at the Counseling Center in 1975. A great support. When there was a problem, she had the positive solution. When a meeting got tense, she was the easing humor. We watched their kids grow , marry and become parents. We watched her husband's medical practice grow.  Many memories.

It was about 6:00 a.m. A hint of  early morning red in the distance promising a rising sun. Huge mountains on both sides of the boat. Snow caps off to the left. It was chilly, kind of misty, and unbelievably beautiful. Our cruise ship was turning into Doubtful Bay in Milford Sound, the fjords of south eastern New Zealand. It was untouched, unspoiled, primeval. No human being had ever walked over those mountains. The dark green was too thick to get through. It was rocks, waterfalls, glaciers, pure creation and quiet.

A song started going through my head... "Morning has broken, like the first morning..." The beauty was unreal and sacred. For an hour or more we sailed up the fjord in water that was nearly a mile deep, watching trees, birds, waterfalls, rocks, and a rising sun giving it all breathtaking definition and color.

A while back I told my granddaughter I was going to do a sermon. She asked what I was talking about. I told her "Patience." She was shocked, "Patience! You talking about patience! You are probably the most impatient person I know."

I have thought a lot about this and in many ways she is right. The Apostle Paul reminds us "Love is patient"... and my impatience gets in the the way... in the way of receiving His love and in the way of being the loving person He would have me be.

We wish each other a Happy New Year and I believe God wishes us a Happy New Year. We all know people who are not experiencing a good new year and there are times when we all have those negative feelings.

Years ago Dr. Peale told the story about a group of people who got together one evening and wrote out their expectations for the coming year. These were put in a sealed envelope and opened the following year. One lady had written that she expected an awful year and when it was opened she shared how awful the year had been. Another had written 10 things she wished to accomplish and shared with the group that she had done 8 of them and felt very good about it. Another had died during the year and when his envelope was opened he had written that since no male member of his family lived to be 60: he was 59 and he expected to die during the year.