EASTER IN OUR TIME.

This morning I had the chance  to listen to Cece Winans' hit Easter song "It wasn't easy" again. I started to reflect on the daunting task that Jesus had to be burdened with to save Christians. It was a daring sacrifice, a sacrifice which only the Son of God could endure. I started to also ponder on the meaning of genuine love; the kind of love that has no strings attached, the kind of love that is given out freely, unflinching love even until the very moment of death. I know lots of people will agree with me as I borrow the words from the Bible that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). It is one thing to die a peaceful death but an entirely different deal to go through pain, humiliation and on top of it all, exit life so disgracefully. I am yet to witness a sacrifice as was exhibited by Christ in these earthly days of ours. Jesus' sacrifice is second to none in my opinion. It is common knowledge that his death has given us passage to the throne room of God and Grace; abundant grace. Grace has given us the ticket to do wrong and come back to ask for forgiveness and expect to be forgiven because grace has given as the opportunity to somewhat hold God to ransom.
Now, my main reason for talking about Easter is that, I was reflecting on the fact that we have so many things to be grateful for. I also realized that we tend to be unappreciative towards some of the good people and good things that happen to us in life. Sometimes people go through challenges on our behalf be it family commitments, relationships and by virtue of one reason or the other for us to be happy. We sometimes forget to appreciate these things and people because we seem to take the sacrifices of these people for granted. What is even worrying is the fact that these people would not hesitate to put their hands in fire for us again whenever the opportunity calls for it, yet, we are the least perturbed. These people are hurt over and over again by our actions yet we do not get a change of heart to do the things that please the people who make sacrifices for us. "We are so often caught up in our destination that we forget to appreciate the journey, especially the goodness of the people we meet on the way. Appreciation is a wonderful feeling, do not overlook it". (Anonymous). There has been several times that I did not show appreciation for a favour or good done me by many people. Just like the way God's grace abounds for us, the human form of this "grace" too is abundant and that is why we do not sometimes show appreciation. I am sure if grace was limited, the story would not be the same. People just want to be appreciated. It is human nature. William James' quote attests to this when he said, "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated".
I encourage us to use this Easter holiday to show appreciation for all the things we have and to be grateful for all the things we have been through so far. We should remember all the people who had to endure an inconvenience no matter how little it was to see us smile. We should also endeavour to sacrifice something for someone to make them happy. Maybe by so doing, we would come to appreciate every little thing that will be done for us by others. Appreciation is a key factor to a happy life. This is captured in the words of Dan Wakefield, "Appreciation of life itself, becoming suddenly aware of the miracle of being alive, on this planet, can turn what we call ordinary life into a miracle. We come awake to such a realization when we recognize our connection to a spiritual dimension". Let us learn to be appreciative of every thing that comes our way. We should even be thankful for the opportunities that we missed. It was due to that missed chance that we are where we are today. It is only through being thankful and showing appreciation that we can encourage people to do more for us because the more we appreciate people and things, the more good things come our way. I would therefore conclude with the words of G. K. Chesterton that
"The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them". Let us be appreciative. My name is Edwin Oko Lamptey and this is an Easter R.A.T ( RANDOM AFRICAN THOUGHT). More at randomafricanthoughts.blogspot.com