Propitiation Has Nothing To Do With Bunnies

  It has been a rather challenging week. Although my daughter is doing quite well in her Lyme treatment, she has had some struggles. We hit a more difficult bout of insomnia and a few bumps with problems concentrating. Schoolwork has been a challenge this year more than any other and a talk with a teacher of an outside class was frustrating. Lyme does not make life easy and it does not help that it is not well understood. Beating myself up for being a slouchy home school mom crossed my mind but then I remembered Resurrection Day is coming and there is too much awe for wallowing. 

 This time of year is perfect for using my favorite word, "propitiation." The days are breaking open with new life and seem to proclaim the theme of restoration and renewal. Where there was death, there is now life. Oak trees drop their brown leaves and sprigs of chartreuse are peeking out. All of nature proclaims that there is redemption. It is marvelous. 

  Now I agree that we should celebrate and worship but how do a junk-food-delivering bunny, colored eggs, and marshmallow chickens factor in? Of course, I would agree that chocolate is great for any occasion BUT being removed from under the wrath of God makes even chocolate lose its appeal. My tongue feels too unworthy of reveling in sweet, melting confections. The love of God extends beyond the sentence against my rebellion to the point of offering His own Son in my place. Whenever I try to contemplate it in some way that is comprehensible, I end up feeling a great weight because it is really a terrible trade. The perfect Son of God for the girl who shook her fist at God and declared that she would only read the Bible to find ways to transgress against Him. The Righteous Lamb for the rebel who had a hard, vicious heart and wanted to self-destruct. Why? That is all I can ask. How can I hold my head up? 

 The answer comes loudly in the picture of Spring's reborn life. The propitiation through Christ was redeeming. Death was conquered. Sin was triumphed over. I have been made alive, justified, and made new. This hymn I think puts it best:

   When I survey the wondrous cross
    On which the Prince of glory died,
    My richest gain I count but loss,
    And pour contempt on all my pride.
    Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
    Save in the death of Christ my God!
    All the vain things that charm me most,
    I sacrifice them to His blood.
    See from His head, His hands, His feet,
    Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
    Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
    Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
    Were the whole realm of nature mine,
    That were a present far too small;
    Love so amazing, so divine,
    Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 Kind of makes bunnies and eggs seem ridiculous, don't you think?