Optimist Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
Even though Easter Sunday has come and gone, we still are in the season according to the liturgical calendar of the church year. Easter is important to us not only because of what it says about life beyond the grave, but because of what it says about life on this side of the grave.
If Christ lives, then life has meaning. There is hope even in the most difficult circumstances. It’s like the song that Gloria Gaither wrote many years ago when she was expecting a child. She and her husband Bill had been going through some difficult times. He had been seriously sick and their music had drawn some highly critical reviews in the Gospel music industry. So one New Year’s Eve, Gloria sat in a darkened room, experiencing a time of torment and fear. “ I sat alone in the darkness thanking about the rebellious world and all of our problems, and about our baby yet unborn. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a world like this?” She thought to herself.
She was at the height of her fear when something indescribable happened. She said,
“ I can’t quite explain what happened and that next moment, but suddenly I felt released from it all. The panic that had begun to build inside was gently replaced by a reassuring presence and a soft voice kept saying, “ don’t forget the empty tomb, don’t forget the empty tomb!“
She then began to confess her faith in Christ and knew that she could indeed have a baby and face the future with optimism and trust for she had been reminded that it was all worth it, just because He lives. And then she began to write these words, “How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride enjoy he gives, but greater still the comma insurance, this child can face on certain days because He lives.”
This time of reassurance for her became a beautiful song entitled, “Because He Lives”. A few of the other words in this song are, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future. And life is worth a living just because He lives.”
Our faith is about believing that Christ did rise again and that He is alive and lives in us and through us. In our world today, life is worth living with Christ in our hearts and we can face every tomorrow with Him.
