A day late...

First of all, a disclaimer. I do not mean to sound preachy, because that makes me feel like a hypocrite. I have made enough mistakes in my life that I think I have been banned from the pulpit and the help columns. If you agree with the aforementioned statements, you may proceed. If not, please leave. Thank you.
Yesterday, I sat in church and listened to the standard Easter talks. The last speaker stood with about three minutes left in the meeting. He began with the question of why do we love holidays? He talked about Christmas and Thanksgiving and about how much fun it is to be with family and eat a lot of food. He then asked, why isn't Easter one of our favorite holidays? Easter is a celebration of the most important event in the history of the world. It is the celebration of the culmunation of the earthly ministry of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While Christmas is wonderful for celebrating the birth of the Lord, Easter is the time to celebrate his crowning act of love, the atonement...victory over sin and death. Is there anything greater than this?
I have thought about this a lot. We love Easter for the spring. We dress in pastels like we dress babies to show re-birth. We love the legthening days and the warmth that signals the end of another winter. We should celebrate Easter for the re-birth in our own lives. We should celebrate Easter as the opportunity that we have to leave our personal winters of sadness and sin and enjoy the warmth of the atonement. We should celebrate Easter through our testimonies of the risen Lord. While it is popular to say that we should keep Christmas in our hearts all year long, would we not be better served by keeping the message of Easter in our hearts all year long?
May the Lord bless and keep you. Happy Belated Easter!!!