Goodbye Week. Hello Weekend. Lessons Learned: Take 93.

Goodbye car battery giving me some unwelcomed trouble and anxiety.
Goodbye preparing and celebrating for communion before welcoming Easter (Eastern Orthodox Easter is this Sunday).
Goodbye Kiddo attending his last Glee Club practice in the Lower School - a new chapter awaits.
Goodbye ongoing party-prep for Kiddo's "elevensies" birthday - can you guess the theme?
Goodbye lingering sore throat that hasn't had me as myself lately.

Hello Good Friday and going to church tonight, not on Easter Sunday.
Hello attending the Indians baseball game on Sunday instead as Kiddo and the shcool's Glee Club will be belting out the National Anthem, again.
Hello dyeing Easter eggs in just one color this year to make things simple.
Hello starting another season of summer baseball with the first practice.
Hello realizing I'll have an opportunity to rest when I'm dead; I think I'm happy with the busyness.

The lesson I learned this week stems from Good Friday occupying the forefront of my mind. Our Easter came late this year so my reflections may appear a bit tardy to most, but not unless you are Eastern Orthodox. I'm thinking about today and wondering how "Good" it was for Jesus? How good was today when He was unjustly sentenced to death by crucifixion, the most painfully slow way to die? I'm not sure many people would have called today "Good Friday" if they witnessed all of this happening. But, they didn't know. They hadn't any idea in their mind that Sunday was coming. In their limited knowledge of knowing only today, not tomorrow, they could not fathom that Sunday was coming and the best of days was about to begin. But, without the events of Friday, we would not have the blessed miracle of Sunday. 

This is how our own hard days begin. While we are in the midst of trouble and hardship and pain, it doesn't seem all that good. But, our own Sunday is coming. And, the glory of our own Sunday couldn't have been possible without our own Friday. Sometimes the path we must take to get to where we are heading is not something we want to endure, but we must go through it to get to the blessings that are waiting for us. Celebrate the hardships that lead to glory. Yes, indeed, it is a Good Friday.

Happy Easter to all who happen to be celebrating this weekend.
Hristos Voskrese.
Voistinu Voskrese.