Resurrection is everywhere. It’s so obvious, that I can’t understand how anyone can miss it! Everything in the entire universe is resurrected bits of something else. So why does it surprise us that we would speak of the resurrected Jesus?

Now here is a real mystery: every day a stone is rolled away to reveal an empty tomb. Each moment that we live is one in which we escape the death of the old us and embrace the resurrection of the new person who has awakened rededicated to God and ready to evolve. If you don’t like who you are, change it. If you do like who you are, refine it, there is still work to go, and every day is full of resurrection: multiple opportunities to be the hero you want to be. Evolution is a string of resurrection events leading to change over time: a process. Without resurrection, without evolution, there would be nothing. Renewal isn’t a task that is accomplished and then it’s done, like slapping a new coat of paint on the walls of a room that has become dingy by years of living. Resurrection, or re-newal, or re-cycling or re-demption are all processes. They are on-going! And if the universe resides within the living God, then the whole universe, including us, is literally restless, and so it will never be done. You will never be done, a work in progress. So, don’t ever give up. Great artists or great athletes or people great at anything, are the ones who steel themselves with resolve, because they know that the journey is a long one. And sometimes you can’t see the incremental progress until you look at the road behind you and realize how far you’ve come. Sometimes it’s tedious, and sometimes you get hurt, and it seems like you have to start all over again. And the beauty of resurrection is… it ALWAYS come again. Just like God. Resurrection is everywhere and always, and you engage in it before, during and after your life here on Earth. Resurrection transcends our understanding, because it’s a paradox that something is forever, yet forever changing!

My life’s journey to walk in faith began before I was formed in the womb, and so did yours. Where is that journey now? Where do you stand in your ability to tap into the endless well of resurrection? What do you imagine the next chapter to be? Do you even recognize that there will always be another chapter of your life to unfold? I promise you there will be whether you are intentional about it or not. You can have a role in your evolution, or you can just let your environment make it happen to you. Is that what you really want? Aren’t you just bouncing up and down to see who you can become next? Don’t just focus on your children or your grandchildren and who they will become—you are not done yet! There is no retirement from evolution. Holy cow! That is AWESOME!

Resurrection is not just a story about something that happened on a Sunday morning nearly two thousand years ago. Resurrection is your story. So perhaps you’re wondering how to get the most out of it? The short answer is: it’s different for everyone. But here’s what has worked for me, and I can tell you—I am genuinely excited to be alive.

First: get enough sleep. Make it a priority. If you can’t sleep, find out why. Second, you must engage in some kind of spiritual practice where you tune out everything but you and God. How you do that is up to you. Some people do yoga, others sit quietly in a chair meditating and listening. Others pray, having complete conversations with God. Jesus gave us an example of how to do that, even providing us with a sample prayer and telling us to do it in private. Prayer is not a performance, even though it might require practice to get comfortable.

Get into a rhythm where you can feel the breath of God propelling an ever-expanding universe. However you are comfortable connecting with God, make it happen as often as you can, because God does not filter your resurrection through someone else’s agenda.

And finally, don’t shy away from loving as many people as you can; they are a gift because God emerges in relationship and we are social animals.

There are lots of things you can do to facilitate your own resurrection, but these three things are a good start: resting, getting in touch with the divine that underlies everything, and loving other people are the three big ones. That’s what Jesus did and it worked for him. He rested, he prayed and he loved the people that God sent to him until the end.

And the stone was rolled away. That’s your story too. Alleluia, Christ is risen, and so are you! Thanks be to God!