Emptied and Filled: Living with Resurrection Hope

Posted March 29, 2024 by Sarah Green

Categories: Featured, Sarah, Sister Post

How will you fill your empty tomb?

As I enter the Easter season, and consider the empty tomb Christ left behind, what empty spaces need to be filled to live with a resurrected hope?  

In Lent, I journeyed into the desert for forty days and attempted to pay attention to areas where I’d grown sloppy.  

Lent is an opportunity to detach from certain things and attach to Christ so we can live fully and completely. I entered into the season of Lent with a desire to grow. Tiny sacrifices allow me to focus on what He did for me. I proclaim to the kids each year that we let go of something we truly enjoy, for the greater good. It’s not that the thing is evil in and of itself, yet letting go of something we enjoy (but might be overdone) helps us grow, helps us lean into Christ, and produces a heart for Him, which is the sole purpose of Lent. 

One day during Lent, I overheard Magdalena saying, “I can’t eat sugar.” I remind my sweet daughter that you certainly can. You will never get in trouble for eating sugar during Lent. “Magdalena, it’s not that we can’t…it’s a choice. We choose to let go of those tasty sweets while we remember to say a prayer for others or whatever God places on our hearts. We don’t have to do anything. We choose to do something.” 

I gain perspective during Lent which guides me into a much-needed time of celebration during the Easter Season. JRR Tolkien reminds us, “The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.” Easter is our greatest adventure. 

If the fast during Lent matters then the celebration certainly matters. Holy Saturday in our home is bustling with life. Bracing myself early in the morning, I prepare for a busy day. The list is full of indulgences and feasting provisions to be assembled. Easter adornment, apparel, and arrangements are underway. Joyfully our home is transformed from a Lenten space which feels a bit barren to a beautiful place for Easter. A resurrected space. Hope glistens in the air as we prepare for the highlight of the liturgical year in the Church. 

After the children prepare their Sunday best, unroll curlers from their hair, stock food on trays, and decorate the home, we attend the Easter service (Saturday night). Christ is our hope. The long forty days of Lent begets fifty days of an Easter celebration. We begin that celebration promptly after the Easter service on Saturday night. The late-night festivities set the tone for the Easter Season. Searching for brightly colored eggs at midnight with headlamps is a thrilling kickoff. Friends linger. Aromatic flowers fill the air. We celebrate largely because we live and breathe the hope of the resurrection.

G.K. Chesterton audaciously reminds us that we need Lent. “Whatever else may be said of man, this one thing is clear: he is not what he is capable of being.” We are made for more.

We cannot be emptied and remain empty. Maybe we gave up sugar or wine, or anything deemed necessary and now we embrace the Easter feast which is so important. Yet, will we just return to our pre-Lent state? Or will we allow God to fill those empty spaces? Why did we give something up to begin with? We detached from certain things to attach more fully to Christ.

I’m considering this question I heard recently, “Do I hunger and thirst or am I willing to settle for the desert?” We are meant to enter the desert for a while but not to stay there. Can we continue to rise in hope as we leave the desert behind? 

As we enter the season of Easter (it’s so close), consider what you emptied yourself of and how you can fill yourself more with Christ. If we leave the empty tomb empty it’s easy to fill back up and attach to what’s unnecessary in our lives or the things we deemed unnecessary at the start of Lent. 

Our empty tombs must continue to fill more with Him which is the greatest adventure of our lives. This is how we live a resurrected hope daily, one baby step at a time.

“He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter!