Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

Sunday, April 16, 2017

What Will We Give?


©2017 Susan Noyes Anderson

The Savior in Gethsemane
consumed our sins on bended knee,
took every sorrow, every loss
and broke them on the rough-hewn cross.

Christ sealed His gift in grief and pain,
renewed each heart in sacred rain
of Living Water, lifeblood spilled.
The ransom, paid. The law, fulfilled.

His temples pierced by thorny crown,
He laid His tortured body down.
The sacred flesh, abused and torn,
roused heaven and earth to weep, to mourn.

The tomb received Him as her own;
disciples wavered, left alone,
forgetting promises profound:
The ties of death would be unbound.

For Christ the Lord atoned for all;
no grave could hold Him, nor forestall
the blessings of eternity.
He lived! He lives! to set men free.

A Brother gave Himself in love.
The risen Lord now waits above.
What will we give? May our lives be
reflections of His charity.

Happy Easter!
He is risen!! 
=)

Thursday, March 24, 2016

What Greater Love than This?


for more warm heart posts, click above

What warms my heart as Easter approaches is the thought of how deeply the Savior loves us. I am  grateful for His sacrifice and the eternal blessings it affords God's children. 
Happy Easter to one and all!




©2016 Susan Noyes Anderson

In ancient times Christ walked upon the earth
as Son of God, a man of flesh and bone.
Some loved Him from the moment of His birth.
Some came to love Him after He was grown.
Too many loved Him not and wished Him ill,
their recognition swept away by pride.
With hardened hearts, inured to Father’s will,
they cast His holy Messenger aside.
A heretic they called Him and a fraud,
impugning Him by cunning word and deed.
But snares of man stand useless before God.
Whatever gains were made, Christ chose to cede.
For He had come to earth a debt to pay,
and evil set in motion His great plan.
On Calvary, He gave His life away
to seal the immortality of man.
His gift to all was Resurrection Day.
The sinner and the saint would rise again!
Christ burst the tomb; the stone was rolled away.
Death lost its sting; the grave would yield all men.
The price was paid and sweet redemption won.
But Christ’s atonement offered even more:
to dwell in Father’s presence through His Son,
who marked the way and opened wide the door.
What greater love than this eternal life?
Our Savior bled and died to call us friend.
His are the arms that carry us through strife.
His is the grace that brings us home again.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Easter: The Spring of Hope



Easter: The Spring of Hope
c2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Come, celebrate the joys of spring,
bright days of reawakening,
when spirits rise from winter long
to soar on wings of sweet birdsong.

The season is awash in light--
blue skies enhanced by clouds of white
and colors flung across rich earth
to flood the world with signs of birth.

As daffodils wake from their rest,
a feathered mother builds her nest.
The ebb of life renews again
from sunlit field to wooded glen.

What better time to set our hearts
on gifts and blessings God imparts--
the greatest of them Jesus Christ,
who saved us with His sacrifice.

May every thought be turned to Him
in whom our hope need never dim;
and may His swift, surpassing peace
grant every wayward soul release.

HAPPY EASTER!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Easter: The Gift of Christ

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Image by Heinrich Hofmann

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

When all about me seems to dim
and colors change to muted gray,
I turn my mind and heart to Him
who carries worldly woes away.

In life, He blessed and healed and fed;
no soul in need sought Him in vain.
In death, He lifted us from dread
and taught us how to live again.

He rose and conquered, made us whole;
our broken bodies He would mend.
But dearer still, each broken soul
would find in Him a lasting friend.

No grief would pass away unknown,
for He had borne it on His knees.
Christ bled, forsaken and alone,
His suffering the price of peace.

How precious are the gifts He gave,
how sacred every drop He spilled.
The Lord loves us enough to save.
In Him, our purpose is fulfilled.

And when my darkness seeks His light,
the dawn is never far away.
His grace sets all the world aright
and shines in me a brighter day.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Living Water: Cleansing the Disciples


©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

Leather sandals, dusty feet,
soles worn out in service.
Lessons taught, lessons learned;
stilled souls waiting, nervous.
Passover dawns bittersweet;
bodies tense against the day.
Disciples listen. Master’s words
pass over them and slip away.
Confusion, fear; can it be true?
A Sword of Might should be their Lord.
He kneels, a servant at their feet.
“Nay, bathe us not,” their tongues implore.
He answers: If ye would have part
with me, then yield to mine own hand.
This Living Water washes soles of feet
and cleanses souls of man.
Alas, they did not understand.

A lifetime later, at the cross,
their broken hearts knew well the cost.
He rose again and made them whole:
mind and body, sole and soul.


 HAPPY EASTER, MY FRIENDS.

Friday, April 6, 2012

The Savior's Gift to Us


I'm pretty much living and breathing Easter this week, and that feels good. We are preparing and practicing for what promises to be a wonderful program Sunday in the young single adult congregation that my husband has the good fortune of leading. This carefully orchestrated blend of words and music will be presented to themselves, by themselves (or by a big number of them, anyway), and that's why it's going to be lovely. Simply because they are.

Last night, I had the narrators over for a practice and was so touched by the way they interpreted my poetry about Christ, His atonement, and the resurrection that I couldn't stop thinking about them after they went home. These are talented, remarkable women, and I am glad to know them. After rehearsing, the two of them joined a dozen or so of their peers around our kitchen table to discuss ways to minister to the 125 active members they serve in their capacity as ward leaders. What an amazing group of people they all are. We love them.

How grateful I am for the atonement of Christ, whose love for us is beyond imagining. Because of His sacrifice...His willingness to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows...my brother-in-law (who lost his father Monday morning and will eulogize him tomorrow) can know for a surety that death is but a temporary separation before that joyful day of reunion arrives.

Surely there can be no greater gift than this, and resurrection is only a culminating event of the Savior's offering. When we open our hearts, His saving grace reaches out to every one of us...in every extremity we suffer...for there is nothing we can experience on this earth, no matter how painful, that He has not already experienced in our behalf...no suffering so personal that He cannot extend the healing comfort of His perfect love and understanding.

Having completed Stephanie Nielson's book (Heaven is Here) yesterday, I decided to read a few reviews and see if others enjoyed it as much as I did. My interest captured, I wound up pouring over considerably more than a few, and nearly every one of them expressed in one form or another the belief that Stephanie's faith is what pulled her through one of the worst trials imaginable. I agree wholeheartedly with that conclusion, and I would suggest that her remarkable faith and healing is powered by the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I would also suggest that much of His work must be carried forward by us, for we are His hands here on earth, as I'm sure Stephanie can attest. She has felt God's sustaining hand through the hands of those who know and love her...and those who do not know, but love her.

May we all embrace the Savior's incomparable gift, and may we use it to fulfill His desires for us:

"For behold, this my work and my glory––to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Moses 1:39

The Savior's Art

©1999 by Susan Noyes Anderson, Awaken Your Spiritual Power, Karisma Press

If I accept His sacrifice divine,

Returning love for love as He has done;

If I forget myself and touch the one

Whose sorrows weigh as heavily as mine;

Then will I weave my thread in His design,

That great design the Master's hand has spun;

Wherein salvation through His blood is won,

And all are fed and nurtured on His vine.

If I reach out and calm a troubled heart,

Or let another heal the rift in me;

If, in distress, I take another's part,

As Jesus took mine at Gethsemane;

Then I embrace the Savior's loving art,

And honor Him throughout eternity.


"I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me, ye can do nothing."
John 15:4

And isn't it wonderful?

=)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Tale of the Easter Bunny

©2010 Susan Noyes Anderson
all rights reserved

I know a great story you may not have heard.
It really did happen. For sure. Every word.

It's all about Easter, which seems pretty right.
Cuz Easter is here. Well, almost, but not quite.

One day, Easter Bunny woke up feeling blue.
His hen friends had quit laying eggs. Yep, it’s true!

Not one single egg for three days. No, not one.
Would his Easter bunny-ing ever get done?

That gathering, dyeing, and hiding job's tough
without any eggs. None just isn't enough!

It's not even close to enough; let's get real.
This Easter egg thing is a pretty big deal.

So Bunny took notes till his brain was quite sore.
He thought thoughts that he’d never thought of before.

Had something gone wrong with the hens? Something bad?
Had someone done something to make them feel sad?

Or maybe their stomachs were feeling quite sick.
He had to find out, and it had to be quick!

He hopped to the henhouse and made his way in,
then straightened his bunny ears, stuck out his chin...

And took a deep breath. There were eggs to be laid…
fresh eggs, yolky stuff of which Easter is made.

(His whiskers were twitching; he’d heard some reports
that hens could be mean when they felt out of sorts.)

The oldest one clucked and looked up from her perch.
"We ain’t got no eggs, rabbit! Don’t even search.

You've been a good friend to us over the years,
but we’re plum fed up with them pigs and their sneers.

They look down on us cuz we can’t be ham dinners…
like Easter’s a contest, and they’re the big winners.

What’s wrong with egg salad and sweet, deviled eggs?
These swine think that they’re the best thing on four legs.

Hmph. Next thing you know, they'll be stealing our wings!
They treat us like peasants and call themselves kings.

Soon, they're gonna learn Easter's not about ham.
Most humans would be just as happy with lamb...

But Easter eggs can’t be replaced; it's a shame.
Without eggs from us, Easter won't be the same.

No colorful baskets. No Easter egg hunts.
These porkers will find out they're nothing but grunts."

“But what of the children?” the sad bunny cried.
They’ll just have to manage. We hens have our pride,”

sniffed the bird. They can make it through one egg-less year.
We’re striking. That’s it! Chicken power is here!!

Chicken power indeed, thought the hare with a frown.
These henhouse hysterics will not keep me down.

I’ll make eggs of shiny-bright plastic to hide,
with Easter-y colors and candy inside!

These hens need to realize (just like each pig)
that they aren't the reason why Easter is BIG.

Oh, sure, ham is yummy and egg hunts are fun,
but Easter’s a symbol of new life begun.

The birds in their nests and the buds on the trees
remind us of nature and sweet mysteries…

Of birth and of death and of living again
because of our Savior, who died for all men.

He rose on the third day, that first Easter morn,
when death was defeated and hope was reborn.

(This made Bunny smile, just as all bunnies do
whenever they think of things lovely and true.)

I'm telling his tale to remind everyone
that Easter's about something more than just fun.

It’s all about Jesus, as simple as that.

(But I’ll still be wearing my cute Easter hat.)

And you can wear yours, too. How perfect is that?

=)

Happy Easter to Jeremiah, Carli, and Bryce
with lots and lots of love
from
Grandma Anderson

for more T posts, click below