Realities Old and New

30/03/2008

Listen "Realities Old and New"

Episode Synopsis

Well, I can hardly believe it, but another Easter has come and gone. What a day; truth be told, I miss it. After forty days of preparing, I wish it would have lasted just a little longer. But if I concentrate, it's not hard to recall, almost re-create, the sights and sounds of the day: the special music and the flowers, the readings and hymns which make Easter worship such a festive celebration.
But it's over. For those who had time off from work or school, it's back to the same old grind. For those who traveled to see family or friends, it's a long wait to the next holiday or vacation. And for those who were so involved in the special activities of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, it's time to settle back into a more regular schedule.
To put it simply: it's time to get back to normal; it's time to get back to work. Lent and Easter were a nice break from the norm, a nice change of pace, but it's time to get back to reality. And that can be hard, for the old routine is so...well, routine; and normalcy, reality, can be so crushingly unavoidable.
At times it comes from so many angles and catches us at unawares. For some, reality swoops in with unemployment or illness. For others it sneaks in by running across the wedding photos of a ruined marriage. For others, still, reality confronts them even as they leave the Easter celebration we were just reminiscing about and return home only to look across a tense dinner table, absent of joy, and realize that their family looks nothing like the Rockwell painting they try to envision for themselves most of the year.