Easter Thoughts

The quote for the weekend in my Oriental Wisdom calendar is by Ibn al-'Arabi and says, "The Universe is God's own Shadow." What a beautiful thought for this Easter Season. Many religions are in the midst of holy seasons. The Jews are observing Passover and the Christians are in the midst of observing the death and resurrection of Christ. Yesterday we observed his death, today we are in the midst of reflecting on his terrible sacrifice for us, and tomorrow we observe his glorious resurrection.

I finished another picture last night called "Guardian of the Earth." It has me thinking about this fragile little ball hurtling in space that we live on. Christ walked on this planet of ours. God loved this little planet enough to give us his only son.

This world of ours is unstable in so many ways. We are prone to earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. Man threatens this planet as much as nature with our wars and hatred. The president of Iran is calling for the destruction of Israel. The various factions in Iraq are killing each other at an alarming rate. The politics of this world are the politics of hatred.

In this period of quiet reflection on Christ's death and the hope of resurrection we should turn our thoughts towards what we can do to honor his sacrifice by making this a better world for all. God so loved the world that he gave us his only son. We should learn to love each other and build bridges to peace and not hatred. That is how we can thank God whose shadow is this universe of ours.