Before I realized I enjoyed writing, my Uncle Brock – on some sort of whim –  asked me to try my hand at an Easter op-ed piece for my home-town’s newspaper, The Wichita Falls Times & Record News. Who knew writing could be so much fun?! Having really enjoyed the task, I’ve kept it up since then. So, when asked again this year if I’d like to be included in their Easter op-ed line-up – I quickly said yes. I love that the paper does this and was humbled to get to participate. If you’re interested, here’s what I shared with their readers.

Thanks Times and Record News … and thanks for walking the road with me. Happy Easter :)

-Kay

Easter – A Fairy Tale Come True

Fairy tales, even the most familiar, rarely fail to capture our attention. They just feel good. And make us smile. And dream.

Put the tale on a two-story, surround-sound cinema screen and everyone’s happy – the audience and Hollywood alike. According to Box Office Mojo, Cinderella topped the chart for March 2015 in total gross income and has a good chance to do the same for April.

Children young and old dream of being or having a Prince Charming. Together, we despise the narcissistic, evil Step Mother and cheer the glass slipper perfect-fit as Good triumphs over Evil. Then, we cheer true love, the most noble of causes, according to Inigo Montoya in another fairy tale, The Princess Bride. And we wistfully watch Wesley and Princess Buttercup riding off on their white steads with the film fading to black focused on the romantic kiss, secretly wishing to be them.

Truly loved.

Completed.

Fully accepted.

But truth be told – we can be. Because there actually exists such a tale where we are loved, completed and fully accepted. But, unlike a fairy tale (“any farfetched story or tall tale… that not only is not true, but could not possibly be true”[1]) it is true. And, we celebrate it at Easter.

This story, arguably the foundation for all great love stories, began thousands of years ago in a Garden. Tragedy struck as the narcissistic, wicked villain blinded the Cherished causing them to be locked away, banished and cast out. He told them lies and made them believe that the King no longer cared, leaving them looking to themselves to find meaning and acceptance in life. But the striving never was and could never be enough.

The Cherished failed to understand that the hole, ever-present in their hearts, could only be filled by THE Prince – the One through whom true love resides.

Years and years passed as the Cherished languished, waiting for someone to save them. They thought all was lost. Until one day, THE Prince came to remind the Cherished of his indescribable love, a love so “wide and long and high and deep”[2] that it can barely be grasped.

But THE Prince didn’t arrive in the manner they expected. He came in the most unlikely and un-royal of ways. He came as a carpenter. And, he spent time with shepherds and sinners and all the peripheral people no one sees.

So, the Cherished failed to see him. Not only did they miss recognizing Him, they mocked and scoffed and brought him before the rulers of the day to brutally crucify him.

While close to death, truuuuuu … looooove crossed his lips in the form of “Forgive them” as he willingly surrendered his life to save the Cherished. An act of love, full of mercy and grace, that wasn’t a temporary fix. It was and is forever. “It is finished.”

But, the story didn’t and couldn’t end there.

Rising early “on the first day of the week” to bring spices for Jesus’ body, two women came upon men in gleaming clothes at the tomb. They saw an opening where the stone had been rolled away. And they were told, “He is not here; he has risen!” Then the key, “Remember how he told you…” [3]

Because Jesus, the Carpenter, had told them. On many occasions. He had taught “them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected … and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”[4] Why? Because he loves us. Because thousands of years earlier, he revealed the path to redemption.

His act of True-Love literally changed the course of time (B.C. to A.D.) An act of love that is often as quickly overlooked as was THE Prince himself. An act love that spans the ages so all might live happily-ever-after.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_tale; [2] Ephesians 3:18; [3] Luke 24:1-8; [4] Mark 8: 31