Easter is tomorrow. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Easter. Not because it is superficial, not because I have some deep conviction about the evils of telling children a magical bunny lays chocolate eggs. What gets me about Easter is how happy, bright, and up-beat everyone is. No, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is great... for them.

I had a conversation with a friend recently about recurring themes in our lives. I have some great themes: God's peace. Perseverance. Determination. But there are other themes that don't give me the "warm fuzzies". Like being forgotten.

Oh, what a sight it is to see the beautiful weather, all the happy children running around, the bright lights as the church puts on its long-awaited Easter production. But sometimes it frightens me. I know it sounds silly. The truth is every Easter people are far too occupied with themselves and their immediate families to care for the lost, the broken, the bruised, the hungry, the tired.... the lonely.

But no matter how much I am dreading tomorrow, I cannot help but be excited about it. Easter is the day when people who don't know anything about Jesus come to church for the first time in their lives. Easter is the day when those who strayed come back and draw from the well of Living Water (see Matthew 11:28-30, John 4:1-26).

I have no idea where you are today. Maybe you know what it is like to dread Easter - to not want to deal with the contrast between how you feel inside and how everyone around you looks and acts. But something so gentle has happened to me, and I just had to share it. Even in my loneliness and heartache, there Jesus has come and whispered into my ear, "you are not forgotten. I see you. I hear you. I love you." Those are the same words He wants to whisper to you this Easter. That is, if you'll let Him.

So wherever you are this Easter, take solice knowthing that Jesus loves you, and will never turn His back on you. And when you are walking to and from your church tomorrow, take a moment to talk to the person next to you. Find the person who doesn't have anyone to sit next to and invite them to dinner. You never know what God may do. Eternity itself may change.