Easter Week

A Final Word

First:
Let us pause to shed a tear over my poor camera, who sits alone and forgotten in my parent's kitchen, an hour's drive away.
Let us weep over the plethora of happy Lucy-in-her-Easter-dress pictures that ought to be, but are not, embedded in this post.
Thank you.
We watched Becoming Jane (a portrayal of Jane Austin's life - I don't know how accurate) yesterday. I could offer my opinions about the film - good and bad, but do not intend this post to be a movie review.

One line, however (which I'll have to paraphrase), has remained in my mind: In response to a friend's inquiry about her novels and whether or not her books would have happy endings, Jane indicates that her characters would, after some trouble, have all that their hearts desired. Certainly an effective juxtaposition to Jane's own deprived (as depicted) life. An effective juxtaposition, it would seem, to life in general. Perfect endings often seem unrealistic.

And yet, this week's Easter celebration leaves me reveling in perfect endings. Wes and I took a moment last night to review the Savior's final mortal days. I approached the reading casually - it's a familiar story, we'd been rehearsing it with Lucy all week. But last night we were alone and it was quiet. It was Easter Eve. I found myself rocked by the scenes. The blood. The betrayal. Voluntary death and subsequent darkness. And then dawn. The morning of resurrection. The light of a perfect ending.

Perfect ending, I imagine, means something a little different for each of us. Some of us currently find ourselves in close-to-perfect circumstances. But so many of the people I love lack desired blessings (health, marriage, children) and so many of the people I hear about lack desired, and even necessary, blessings (love, food, faith, security, shelter, respect). Truly there is so much desire in the world. (And let's note, I mean righteous desire - although there's plenty of the other kind, too!)

Those of us with testimonies of Christ's atonement manage to find peace even in want of desired blessings:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

But celebrating the resurrection fills me not only with current contentment during difficulty, but with the anticipation of an ultimate deliverance from desire. After a little trouble (or a lot, as some cases go) we are promised a perfect ending. Total dream/desire fulfillment. No matter how dark our Friday, Sunday will come.

Eventually.

And that's really the hard part to swallow, isn't it? The,"eventually." The, "who knows when." The "maybe not for a long time" clause.

But isn't the surety of eventually so much better than the possibility of never?

Our bishop's wife spoke in Sacrament meeting today. She has a thirteen year old son who suffers from a terminal, degenerative disease. Doctors anticipated that he would live 10-12 years. He has gratefully surpassed expectations, but his parents are preparing for the inevitable. This sweet mother told of choosing a casket and burial plot, of planning a funeral for her still-living, but struggling son. And she testified with power about the eventuality of resurrection, about the eventuality of a perfect ending, about the eventual receipt of her heart's greatest desires.

After some trouble...all their hearts desire. Jane's words are really not so much in juxtaposition to reality as they are a simple declaration of it: trouble followed by eventual reward. Because of an Easter gift. Because of our Savior's e x p e n s i v e, but freely given, Easter gift.