There's No Good Friday Without Easter Sunday | A Reflection

The summer before I went into sixth grade, my family moved.

My parents told my siblings and I that we were moving into a big new house where we would each get our own room and have a big yard to play in (what kid doesn't dream of that)? The problem was, we sold our old house about 4-5 months before we could move into the new one. That meant we weren't going to have any one place to call "home" for a little while.

The first two months we were able to stay with my grandparents (which meant really good Portuguese food), but they lived an hour away at the time. It was hard to see friends and we couldn't really participate in any summer sports, clubs or camps because of the distance. Then, as school started up again, we had to move to my uncle's house in Pennsylvania because it was closer. Even though we were then only 20 minutes away, it was still difficult to connect with friends. On top of that, the five of us were living out of one bedroom and there wasn't really any such thing as "personal space" at the time.

Those few months felt like a lifetime to my siblings and I.

There were times where we felt angry and frustrated, anxious and upset, and definitely restless. We knew what our parents told us but we were at an age where we didn't really understand it all. We were told we were gonna live in a big, happy home but we were jumping from place to place and feeling secluded. It was right when we were about to give up hope that our moving day came and we appreciated our new home so much more because of the sacrifices that we made to get there.

Why am I comparing the story of Jesus' passion and resurrection to a silly story about my family moving back when I was in the sixth grade? Because I think it helps to step back and view it from the point of view of a child. We can't fully relate to the story from a merely objective standpoint - we don't live in such archaic times and I don't know about you, but sometimes when I hear the story, I hear it like my sixth-grade self hearing my parents tell me about the new house. I know but I don't understand.

I know Jesus died on the cross, I know he said he's going to come again on the third day, but do I actually understand? We all go through tragic things in life and we all have to make sacrifices. They can seem like helpless situations, we can feel like they're never ending, but Jesus tells us that there is light and hope at the end. God uses all things for good.

We cannot choose our circumstances. We can, however choose how we deal with them. Continue to hope, continue to love, continue to dream big, because the good times are coming. No matter how bad the storm gets, it's always followed by the light and warmth of the sun.

There's no Good Friday without Easter Sunday.

Sending love always,

J.S.