It has now been almost three weeks since Good Friday and Easter this year. But so much has happened over the past couple of weeks that it feels like it has been forever since we came together and joyfully declared, “He is risen; He is risen, indeed!”

Maybe you aren’t feeling the same strain on your life and are finding it easy to remember and keep the joy and hope of Easter in your life and heart this year. But for me, I need some healthy reminders about how the death and resurrection of Jesus effects my life today.

This is why I need to constantly be both reading the Bible myself and be in conversations with other people who are trying to live out how Easter effects their life every day. The Bible, especially the letters in the New Testament, gives great examples of how the earliest followers of Jesus lived and were instructed to live because Jesus had died for them and had raised to new life. It is the same with other people who are trying to be followers of Jesus. Listening to how others are applying the joy and hope of Easter can give me me even more examples of how people live in light of Jesus.  Each give me ideas about what I can do in my own life, today!

What I really enjoy is the opportunity to discuss the Bible WITH people who are trying to follow Jesus and keep the joy and hope of Easter in their everyday lives. For instance I was talking to one of my favorite theologians and she said:

If you look at Paul’s letters, he’s like, “don’t be selfish; don’t suck; Jesus went to the cross you can handle being nice to one another.”
-R.A. Watczak

(13 book of the Bible summed up into one sentence… nice!)

But in this little sentence I was reminded that as I live my life selflessly, in a non-sucky way, and as I am kind to others because Jesus was kind to me, I can daily be reminded about the joy and hope of the Cross and Easter in all of the little things I do.

What about you? How are you keeping the joy and hope of Easter this year? How are you doing at interacting with the Bible and with other followers of Jesus to help remind and encourage you to follow Jesus?