Easter Sunday

A JELLYBEAN PRAYER

Red is for the blood He gave,

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the Sun so bright,

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we made,

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for the hours of sorrow,

Pink is for a new tomorrow.

A bag of jellybeans,

colorful and sweet,

is a promise,

a prayer,

and a loved one's treat.

- Author Unknown

As legend has it, the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made from a dogwood tree.

God decreed that the dogwood tree would from that day
forth never grow large enough to be used to make a cross.

Thus, the dogwood tree is a small, under story tree.

The flower of the dogwood has four petals which makes the shape of a
cross.

The center of the flower resembles the crown of thorns with bright red,
clustered fruit in the center representing the blood of Christ.

The dogwood blooms in April when Easter Sunday
marks the resurrection of Christ after the Crucifixion.

The Old, Old, Legend Of The Dogwood

Two thousand years ago, few trees in the Middle East were not big enough
to construct anything.

However, one tree was valued above the others for

its thick trunk and fine, strong wood.

When the Romans came to rule over

Jerusalem, their government used this same
timber to build the crosses for executing criminals.

A group of workers were assigned to gather wood
for the crosses.

Before long,

every Roman official knew

the best wood came from these gatherers of
execution wood,

so those workers became popular.

One day, the wood gatherers received a special request.

An officer of the Roman court came and said,

"The King of Jews is to be put to death.

Deliver an extra-large cross made from your

finest wood."

So, a fresh tree was cut from the forest of the trees with thick
trunks and fine, strong wood.

An extra-tall (and extra-heavy) cross was quickly made and delivered.

Three days after the death of Jesus of Nazereth,

the chief wood gatherer
got alarming news.

"All of our finest trees are withering!"

the messenger whispered.

The wood gatherer hurried to the forest and saw that it was true.

Several years later,

the chief wood gatherer heard that,

every spring,

many people visited the old
forest that had once made his job so easy.

Despite his advancing years,

he set out to discover why.

He saw the remains of forest,

now like a salty bottoms,

with only a few trees
still standing tall,
baked,

lifeless and rotting.

But what was this?

As he drew closer,

his feeble eyes could make out the
people walking among
thousands of beautiful,

flowering bushes.

Seeing one of his own

workers there,

the old man said,
"No one could ever make a cross out of this twisted wood.

Our finest tree
has gone to the dogs!"

He noticed the beautiful white flowers,

each blossom looking as if it had been burned from the touch of a
miniature cross.

So...

an old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of
the crucifixion,

the
dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree

and other monarchs of the
forest.

Because of its
firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross,

but to be
put to such a cruel use
greatly distressed the tree.

Sensing this,

the crucified Jesus in his gentle
pity for the sorrow and
suffering of all said to it:

"Because of your sorrow and pity for

My sufferings,

never again will the
dogwood tree grow

large enough to be used as a gibbet.

Henceforth it will be
slender,

bent and
twisted and its blossoms will be in

the form of a cross -- two long and two
short petals.

In the center
of the outer edge of each

petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust
and stained with red -- and in

the center of the flower will be

a crown of thorns,

and all who see
this will remember.

THE CRUCIFIXION

Why did the sun his beams conceal
As if unwilling to reveal
That deed of mankind on the day
When Jesus, at the altar, lay
A willing sacrifice.
Earth, too, in terror shook, when He
The Mighty, died on Calvary;
When for our sins He bowed His head,
Gave up the ghost, and quickly sped
To regions of the dead.

And some who had for ages long
Been wrapped in slumber deep and strong,
Awoke, and by their converse showed
That death no more dominion had
In that He died.

Why did He die? Ah! blissful thought,
When we near death and hell were brought,
He left His father's courts above--
O, list to such amazing love--
And died to save.

Why did He die? 'Twas love divine
That caused Him all things to resign--
A heavenly choir, celestial home,
Exalted seat, seraphic song,
And all to save.

Blest thought! He reigns victorious now,
To whom all earth will shortly bow,
Let men below and saints above
Wonder at such stupendous love,
As caused their God to die.
In all the world;
There is no place
As dear to me
As in an empty tomb within Gethsemane.

Men singing the praises
Of the cross,
And rightly so,
Yet it is to the empty tomb
I love to go

It's there with Paul I daily die
When sore opressed,
It's there, where men are loathe to go
I sweetly rest.

It's there, when heart ache's
angry waves envelop me,
In Faith, I lift my mournful face
My Lord to see.

There is no place so fraught with power
Our souls to save,
As is our Lord's last resting place,
His empty grave.

In darkest hours of grief, beside
a new made mound,
I go again, the depths of God's
Great love to sound.

And while I view the grave and clothes,
The echoes ring:
"O, Grave, where is they victory"
O, Death, thy sting?"

As, one by one, the loved ones cross
the threshold's gloom,
I fain believe, embrace, receive,
The Empty Tomb.

by Mary D. Sammons
from "Streams in the Desert 2"

Dear Heavenly Father,

You know my heart inside and out. You know my wants, my needs and my desires even before I do. Lord, lead me to be the type of person that you would want me to be as it is written in the Bible. Lord, you know when I am well or ill, sad or happy even before I do. I know you have a plan for my life. Please Heavenly Father, always guide me in the way, you want me to go. I ask for your blessings for my family, my many friends and for me too. Lord, please guard, guide, and protect Clay as he does the work for Unicef. Heavenly Father, there are many of my friends that have lost love ones, some that are ill and some are going through some very difficult times. Please be there for them as you have been for me every minute of the day. Lord thank you for your son and saving me from my sins.

I ask all these things in Jesus Christ's name,

Amen

I truly hope and pray that you are having a wonderful Easter.

Thank You for Visting

I hoping you are having a wonderful day.

Thank you for the many sweet comments y'all have made to my many posts.

Hugs To You All,

Nance