Mom's family was half Dutch. She spent time in Holland as a little girl with her Aunt Nell, whom she adored. Mom loved tulips because they reminded her of the tulip fields of Holland. I sent her tulips one year for Mother's day and she cried that I would remember that they were her favorite flower.
I planted about 100 tulips in front of my house last year and she was thrilled. The last time I saw her was a year ago in April, right as those tulips were coming out of the ground for the very first time. I was amazed then that something I planted months ago in dead dirt could live all that time through winter and survive and blossom as something so beautiful. It was such a cheerful beginning of spring and the first sign of new life.
As those tulips pop up out of the barren and icy ground this year, it's a bitter-sweet reminder of my mom. I am again amazed that it is possible for anything to grow in this cold, dry dirt when everything seems dead and bleak. But it reminds me of the eternal truths of the resurrection and that life continues after death.
Easter means more to me this year than it ever has. I've never needed to know so desperately that death is not the end, that I will see my mom again. And I do know that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that third day, leaving an empty tomb, that one day the death of our loved ones will also be empty tombs. I am so very grateful for that.
Just as those tulips miraculously emerge as new life, so Christ rose from the dead after three days in a dark tomb. And because of him so will we. And I will see my mom again. #Hallelujah #Easter #missyoumom
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