How To Make Easter Meaningful

Make it relevant to life

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I don’t doomscroll. I have a worse habit. I spiral down the rabbit hole of People of Walmart, Walmartians, and reels filled with retail madness. Since I started using grocery delivery, I’ve not been in there as much. Still, I like to check in on what my people are up to and ensure I’m not featured on any sites.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if I were. I’ve wandered those aisles looking like a headline waiting to happen. Once, I broke a bottle of red nail polish on my bathroom tile. As I scrubbed the mess with remover, I realized the bottle was empty and I was nowhere near finished. I’d forgotten entirely about myself. My hands and arms were stained bright red, with splatters trailing up to my elbows.

Nevertheless, I headed to Walmart looking like I had just walked away from a crime scene. People stared as I rushed through the store, clearly wondering if I had murdered someone with my bare hands.

Caught in the Act

But I’m not the only spectacle in my local store. Once, I spotted a man wearing a red and green kilt, an orange ruffled shirt, and a green derby hat with a five-foot red feather sticking out like a propeller. I crouched behind a display, phone in hand, ready to capture my long-awaited Walmartian photo op. Then I heard teenage girls giggling behind me. They were capturing their moment—a picture of the old lady (me) crawling on the floor with her camera phone.

Losing Sight of What Matters

I lose awareness of what’s happening around me all the time. I get caught up in my thoughts, plans, and good intentions, which seem reasonable until I stop and look at them. There’s always room for growth.

As Easter approached, I spent weeks planning what to make for dinner and what to put in Charlotte’s basket. Holidays make me nervous. I worry the celebration won’t be memorable or meaningful enough, and I get caught up in the wrong priorities.

What Easter Means

God never commanded us to celebrate Easter, but I didn’t want to waste the season. It’s a beautiful time to pause and refocus.

I tried to meditate on the resurrection, the cornerstone of our faith. Through it, God unveiled His power over death and sin and promised us new life. It is the ultimate display of divine strength. But somehow, it still felt distant.

Faith Becomes Personal

I once heard someone say that information only becomes knowledge once it becomes personal. In other words, I wouldn't fully internalize the meaning of the resurrection until I had lived it somehow, until it became part of my story.

Paul described the resurrection power like this: “His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” That same power is available to us today. But some days, it feels hidden.

Power in the Ordinary

Most days, I don’t feel powerful at all. I feel like I've barely made it after dragging Charlotte to multiple appointments, chasing her up and down the stairs, and wrangling her into pajamas.

Virginia Woolf once wrote, “The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” She wasn’t discussing Easter or faith, but that quote reminds me of God's work.

We may not get the thunderbolt moment. But we do get flickers of light. At the time, they may not seem like much—but later, we see they were signs of strength beyond our own.

Looking Back to See Clearly

Even when I didn’t feel it, God’s power was there. Looking back, I see it. Charlotte’s blood oxygen levels were critically low before her surgery. We signed multiple waivers acknowledging the risk of death. Afterward, her lung collapsed. All of this happened while I was undergoing cancer treatment. And somehow, through it all, I didn’t fall apart.

That was resurrection power. It didn’t feel dramatic then, more like exhaustion, but I grew in trust, patience, and peace. That’s how I knew God was at work.

Light in the Darkness

This is what resurrection means to me. It’s not always a transformation in a single moment. Sometimes it’s light breaking through in the dark. Just enough to keep going. Just enough to see the next step.

So this Easter, I’m looking for where I’ve already seen resurrection, remembering how God held me together when everything else was falling apart.

Maybe the days are long right now. Perhaps we’re still waiting for the miracle. But even the small flickers matter. They are signs of resurrection, too.

That’s Easter. That’s the power still at work.

Your Turn

I love hearing from you. Please take a moment to think about the times you’ve seen God’s power in your life. Your story might be exactly what another person needs.

Where have you seen small flickers of resurrection in your life, moments of unexpected strength, peace, or hope when you needed it most? Let us know in the comments.