For the past three years I have done a 30 Days of Gratitude during the month of November. A student of mine got me onto to the idea back in 2012 and I've been doing it ever since.
Today is also Dia de los Muertos otherwise known as the Day of the Dead. This holiday predominately celebrated in Mexico and Latin America is a time where we gather to remember our friends and family who have passed on. I watched the movie the Book of Life (which you should watch if you have not yet) in celebration of this day.While today may be the day of the dead, I have been reminded so much of life. Worship music songs spoke of God's power over death and promise of life.
"Sick are healed, and the dead are raised, at the sound of your great name."
"Death could not hold you down. You are the risen king. Seated in majesty. You are the risen king!"
In a world that has faced so much death lately - where in our country young black men and women are being killed what feels like on the daily, where immigrants and refuges are dying to just cross borders, where Christians in other parts of the world are being killed for their faith, where friends and family get cancer, where loved ones are struck by drunk drivers and killed in senseless accidents - it sometimes just feels like death rules our world. I'm reminded that Jesus promises abundant life.
I'm reminded Jesus is the conqueror of death. I'm reminded while Jesus invites us to die to ourselves, we are then given greater life in return. Even when we face so much death, I know it is not the end. So I'm grateful for a God who is bigger than death. We can have abundant life - both in the here and now and the life to come.
So today I do remember the loved ones that have gone - my grandfather, Rachelle, Senior Cuxil, and the many others. But I also remember that Jesus is the giver of true life and I am grateful.
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