Dear Travelers,

I always smile when I realize that Easter time has arrived. I feel the joy, warmth and excitement welling up within. My next article was put on hold… replaced by a desire to share my seasonal thoughts with you.

I smile. Easter, for many, is often associated with chocolate. I’m sure that fact alone would make me look guilty of having no ‘spiritual’ attachment to the weekend. I think back to the birth of my daughter. My son was turning four and his grandma had bought him a big chocolate Easter bunny. The ears on that bunny wooed me. They cried out to be eaten. Since I was three weeks overdue and stressed by said mother-in-law visiting from Montreal (asking daily if I was in labour yet); would I resist?

“Good Friday,” as the Friday prior to Easter is often referred to, arrived. Along came the increased desire to appease my ‘self!’ Justifying that I could go shopping in the morning, I grabbed that tempting bunny and bit off the ears… BIG ears… a few hours later I went into labour. I was mortified! I’d be labeled a selfish mother!

I’ll never forget my close girlfriend whispering in my ear during visiting hours the next day, “I replaced the bunny for you.” Easter, a beautiful new baby, a good friend and my concerns were quickly evaporating.

Easter, aside from religious beliefs, is a great time for renewal and awakening. I enjoy celebrating its arrival. But my celebration is often a quiet one. A wander through nature is my favorite way. Here in the Okanagan the trees are blossoming and flowers are taking their first peek at life above the soil.

During a walk on the cliffs last week, I saw a hole disappearing into the ground…such a deep dark hole, where the sunlight couldn’t reach it. At first I thought it sounded most unappealing. Then I realized that new life is often born in such places in the wild. Nurtured beneath the soil, hearts start beating and whimpers are soothed away by the licking of a mother’s tongue.

Think about it. When you’re having one of those, “human moments,” when you forget that you’re an eternal soul, and feel bogged down in the grappling’s of your personality; is it possible that you are preparing something wonderful within? Instead of fighting the darkness of your “den,” try embracing it for the potential it offers you. Bring forth life; don’t waste the opportunity.

Take a walk this Easter weekend if you have time. Observe the songs of the birds around you, the freshness of the new buds on the tree branches; feel the vibrancy in the air. Then quietly, with a new smile upon your lips, think of the long chilly winter we’ve had this year. New life was preparing during those cold, dark days. What was made ready within you? Let the magnitude of your own soul fill your heart, revealing your own awakening.

From my heart,

Nancee