Today is the last day of Lent, the 46-day portion of the Christian calendar leading up to Easter. Many Christians celebrate this time with some sort of fasting, giving up something to help them focus on Jesus' suffering on the cross. The last of Lent is Easter Saturday.
This Lenten season has required all people, Christian and non-Christian to give up more than we could have imagined. And this year's season of self-denial doesn't end with Easter.
The good news is that our efforts to stop the spread appear to be working. As infection curves flatten, we begin to consider when we may go back out in public.
Will it be a sudden release to all normal activities? Or will we be allowed gradually to resume our regular lives? We still don't know.
But we do know this: God uses death to bring new life. The death of Jesus allowed him to defeat death. Without his death, there could not have been a resurrection. The death of our normal way of life may give rise to a resurrection to new, better way of living.
That's my prayer.