Take Hold

Emily Freeman

Several weeks ago I was shoveling snow off the sidewalk in front of my house and

I noticed a broken branch hanging from my pear tree.

I pulled it off the tree and looked at it carefully.

Somehow, in the midst of winter, this branch had started developing buds.

For some reason seeing those brown buds growing there gave me a great amount of hope.  

Winter really was going to end.

I couldn’t bear to throw that symbol of hope into the garbage can,

so I brought it inside and put it in a small vase with water.

A few days ago I walked into the kitchen and noticed a change was taking place.  The brown buds were bursting, and small green balls were poking their tiny heads through the soft fur.

If you looked carefully you could see a hint of pink just waiting to blossom.

Hope.

Right there in my kitchen.

The reality of it fills my heart every time I walk into the room.

As winter swirls outside my window pane I shift my focus to the hope springing forth from that tiny branch.

It is almost Easter.

A time when we celebrate hope.

Anticipation fills my heart, for Easter means Spring…new life…warmth.

But there is a deeper meaning.

It is a time when we celebrate the atonement of Christ.

This year I want to do things differently.  I want to have a Christ Centered Easter.  I want to begin preparing my heart now for the celebration ahead.

 

 

 I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

Psalm 116:1-2

“How do we recognize the promptings of the Spirit? That which is of Christ does edify, and if we have that feeling of edification, then we may know that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, is speaking to us. If we are in an attitude of prayer, if we are in an attitude of anxiously seeking the direction of the Spirit, we will receive it. There isn’t the slightest doubt in my mind concerning this.”

Gordon B. Hinckley