“The Day After” is used in different contexts and applied to diverse situations.  There remains a common thread in all of the phrase’s uses: disappointment.  For instance, the day after Christmas is often a let down.  The toys of yesterday are put away, yes some still retain the luster of being wanted, but all-in-all the excitement of the twenty-sixth never quite matches that of the day previous.

For me the holiday that never lets me down is Resurrection Day.  Currently the day is referred to most popularly by the term “Easter.”  It is the one and only holiday of the year that does not carry the baggage of disappointment.

I look forward to Resurrection Day more than any other holiday (except perhaps for Thanksgiving Day since that is the last truly Christian holiday on the calendar).  I absolutely love the pageantry of remembrance and celebration.  I love that families make time to get together for worship.  I love that the giving and receiving of gifts is purely optional, but the expectation of a meal together is almost required.  I love to see the little ones in their Spring best, the gentlemen in their shirts and ties, the ladies all dressed up.  I love that the day falls either before Spring is arrived or after Spring is arrived, but Resurrection Day always proclaims, “New life is coming!”

I know many are frustrated with the chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chickens, and forced attendance to religious services.  I too share in those frustrations, but not to the extent that the beauty of the day is tarnished.

“And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins….And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” (1 Corinthians 15:17–19, NLT)

This is honesty and transparency at its best!  Paul says it plainly here:  If Jesus is nothing more than a marvelous moral teacher and cultural revolutionary, Christians are pitiful.  Scratch that, the most pitiful people on the planet.

For this reason, I love Resurrection Day all the more.  It is a special reminder, in addition to all the reminders I have on “normal days” that I am not pitiful.  Jesus is alive, I am forgiven and loved, He is ruler over all, including me.