Христос Воскрес! Воистину Воскрес!
Easter morning at my Ukrainian grandmother's house always began the same way: "Christ is risen! He is truly risen!" In her small Ukrainian community in Cohoes, NY, the greeting was heard everywhere and all through the day — even among strangers on the street. Breakfast began with blessed hardboiled egg, passed from family member to family member, a symbol of new life emerging from the tomb (the shell). Easter breakfast was an odd mixture of Christian and Jewish tradition with horseradish reminiscent of the Passover meal and traditional home-made Easter bread, hearkening back to the emergence from the days of unleavened bread.
They're all gone now; all but my brother and me and four other cousins we rarely see. Grandma's kitchen table — if it still exists — is surrounded only by shades and memories. This morning's scrambled eggs were good, but just not the same. The Easter bread only a sharp memory. Time passes; memories only pass when we do, but, chances are, they remain still: a permanent imprint on the fabric of the universe. "Non omnis moriar," wrote the Roman poet, Horace, "I shall not wholly die."
What's it all about, then? What's the great secret of life that preserved the Pharaohs intact into the 21st century, preserved the children of Abraham through the Sea of Reeds and the Holocaust, preserved the Christ through of the tomb and Christians through various and sundry persecutions, and preserved an ancient custom through its passing from generation to generation and kept it alive and well in my memory? It's but one simple thought: one attitude, so simple it's almost — but not quite — obvious: trust or, as the ancient writers spoke about it, hope.
Today, it conveys to me "Suit up and show up." Everybody seems to be so enthusiastic about The Secret (and, in fact, it's a very special reminder of what's really important, but, it's no secret). There are only three things I need to remember to make this day (this hour, this minute, this lifetime) a total success: 1) accept the past as it is without remorse or regret but with forgiveness as having been exactly as it should have been; 2) trust that the future is unfolding as it should under the wings of a benevolent Destiny; and 3) engage in the present with the courage of my convictions, keeping my side of the street clean and celebrating every step forward as a victory. Accept, trust, engage, succeed. Христос Воскрес!
H. Les Brown, MA, CFCC
Technorati Tags:
Easter, Resurrection, acceptance, trust, engagement, faith, hope, love, success, tradition
Comments