Today is my favorite holiday, bar none. On the previous two days before todays’ celebratory event, I like to imagine the grief that was felt among his followers. They felt they had wasted years with a man who represented hope beyond all hope. This guy was the savior, and now he is dead. Imagine the crushing blow they felt as they ran and hid, believing they were next in line to be crucified. Imagine their disbelief as they did not hang around to see the crucifixion. Imagine how they felt the full force of believing that this guy was not what they thought he was. He did not pull himself off the cross as some believed he would do.

They felt failure. Absolute, total failure. The weight of their failure must have been beyond any failure we can experience. In the days following the events celebrated today, they experienced confusion, doubt, ridicule and who knows what else. On this day, most of them had given up. They were unaware of the resurrection.

Today is the perfect example of what God manifest from failure. Or maybe I should say perceived failure. One cannot minimize the pain, the heartache, the complete loss of hope that comes from the events preceding today’s celebratory event. Experiencing those feelings of failure are part of life.  

What we have today is the power of his resurrection in our lives. We can overcome the failures in our lives. We can live in the full glory of the regeneration of our spirit, from this glorious resurrection, from his spirit that dwells in us. Today, and every day, we can renew ourselves to great things.