It’s spring. There is new life beginning everywhere—in the earth around us and, if we will, in our souls. Both kinds of life, however, must be cultivated. There is something about breathing fresh morning spring air that clears the head and opens the heart. There is no stronger sense of what it means to really be alive, to be poised for excitement, to recognize that what we are about to put into the day will change the world.

It is an exercise in “yes,” this slip-slide from winter to spring, from dark to light. Yes to today; yes to tomorrow; yes to life again. We all come out of the tomb of winter new and bright with promise. It is “yes” to life time now, however old, however jaded we may be. It is the rediscovery of possibility again.

The celebration of Easter Sunday is followed by Paschal Time, 50 days of holy hilarity while the church points again and again at the empty tomb. There are empty tombs in all our lives still, places where death did not conquer us because faith entered in to fill the dark spots. We have each risen from the dead and Christ has risen in us. Yes, the Easter season is about more than the Resurrection of Jesus. It is just as much about the resurrection of everyone around Him because of His own. Mary Magdalene rose again, this time a disciple. The apostles rose again, this time with courage and purpose. The little people for whom Jesus’ whole ministry had been spent rose again, this time with new conviction and certainty. Rising again is the central message of the Christian tradition.

The poet Emily Dickinson, wrote: “Love is the fellow of the resurrection, scooping up the dust and chanting, live.” It’s such a powerful image of universal resurrection, this sight of Jesus turning dust into life again, proving that creation is unquenchable in each of us.