Seeing spring dresses during a recent shopping trip reminded me that Easter is near. Growing up the youngest of five on East Main Street, there were two times of the year when I got a new dress—Christmas and Easter. Otherwise, I was relegated to my sister, Debbie’s hand-me-downs. Easter was also a time when my two pairs of dress shoes were changed out. Black was for the winter months, but white came out with Easter, even if it was freezing.
A child of the 70s, I was not always thrilled at my mother’s choice of outfits for the occasion, as this picture in front of our house reveals. The scowl on my face didn’t mean I didn’t love Easter and all it meant to me and my family. Remember, you only get one picture with cameras that used film!
Why did we dress up at Easter?
Because it reflected our reverence for the Resurrected Christ and the importance of the day. After all, for Christians, Resurrection Sunday is what it’s all about. Without Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, our faith would have no meaning. It was something to celebrate, and we did it by dressing up and going to church.
Do I still buy a new dress at Easter?
While some do, I don’t, as my dresses don’t get worn as much these days, so there’s no need to buy a new one. My views of Easter finery have changed as well, and though I go back and forth about the need to “dress up” for church, I lean now more toward the state of the heart rather than the condition of the clothes. Still, Easter has not changed, and Resurrection Sunday is still the focal point of celebration in our faith and for our churches.
My days of walking to church from our house on East Main are over, but my days of going to church remain. As with everything in life, there is change. I’ve lived in different places over the years. I've had different hairstyles and worn different clothes over the decades. I’ve changed my political views, my involvement in the local community, and I’ve grown and learned new things.
I change, but God does not.
Without the stabilizing force of His Word and my faith, my life would be like shifting sand. The world around me may change, but God remains. As I look at that picture from years gone by, I’m grateful for my heritage and Main Street home, but I don’t want to go back to that time. There was as much uncertainty then as there is now. We just know more about it now because of the Internet and social media. I’ll stick with today because I know I’m closer to eternity with Him.
When that day comes, I’ll get some glorious finery to wear that will outshine all the best this world has to offer.
That’s something to look forward to!
Happy Easter
Carol B. Ghattas is a writer, speaker, and active blogger. Subscribe to her blog, lifeinexile.net, or follow her on Facebook or Instagram. Connect with her at lifeinexile.net.
