Easter Away from Home

As I prepare to close the book on my Easter Sunday, many of you are probably just now rushing around getting ready to open it.  What an awesome, beautiful, hopeful day Easter is!!!  He is risen, and we are forever changed because of it...AMEN!!!!

Though I went to church this morning and was even involved in a Reader's Theater about Easter, it just didn't quite feel like Easter.  I realized this afternoon that this was my first Easter away from home, and it just felt odd.  No screaming, yelling, and chaos this morning as I got ready for church like there normally is at the Kash household on Easter morning.  No sunrise service.  No Kash family picture that normally takes about 15 minutes and ends with at least 2 unhappy children.  No lunch with my family and grandparents.   It wasn't a bad day at all.  I got to rejoice with people that I care about.  I had the opportunity to invite some co-workers to church.  The weather was beautiful.  It just didn't quite feel like Easter.  I wasn't aware how much I relish spending this holiday with my family...probably more than any other holiday.  I had a good day, but I'll be more than ready to spend next Easter as a unit of the Kash family.

That being said, today really was pretty great!  I got to spend this morning at church, which was awesome.  And then this afternoon as I was running errands, it hit me out of nowhere that I'm really kinda falling in love with Korea.  I think it was hard for me to appreciate and enjoy Korea when I first got here and during the winter, because the winter was just miserable.  It was too cold to go out.  We only had like 8 or 9 hours of sunlight, most of which I was spending at work.  But now that the weather is nicer and I'm able to get out and I've learned how to leave work at work, I see all these little beauties around, all these small splendid surprises that Seoul has for me.  When I was out this afternoon, I thought, for the very first time, how I will probably really miss Korea when my contract is up here. 

It's so funny how God turns hearts and changes perspectives.  I've been asking God to show me how to love the people around me and enjoy and appreciate this opportunity to live and work in Korea.  For weeks, I remained restless and upset due to bad interactions with Koreans; willing to put in the time and fulfill my contract, but more ready than ever to leave and never look back.  Then today, I blinked my eyes, and when they opened again, it was as if I was seeing things for the first time.  It felt like I had instantaneously fallen in love with this country and its people and its culture and all its intricacies.  It's been a good day.  I am positive that I will find myself angry about this or that in the coming months, but my entire perspective has shifted.  And it feels so nice.

I hope you all are reminded of the love of God and the hope that we have on this holy, miraculous day.  HAPPY EASTER!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke