Easter: Beginning With the Ending in Mind

Lara Patangan discusses Easter not as the end of the story of God’s mercy, but as the beginning.

I love a good ending. There’s nothing worse than reading a book or watching a movie and being left without answers. Sometimes I wonder if that’s what’s so appealing about the Resurrection story. It appears as the perfect ending to the greatest love story ever told: Jesus’ death for the salvation of humanity. It’s a story of truth, intrigue, suspense, deep sadness, and unparalleled jubilation.

The story’s triumphant conclusion is celebrated on Easter Sunday in patterns of pastels, florals, and hats brimming with artful bows. There’s rejoicing in churches, backyard egg hunts, and at festive meals. Even nature participates in the jubilee with its mosaic of showy blooms, cerulean sky, and birdsong. Yet amid this seemingly universal joy, what Easter really offers us is a new beginning.

Easter Is Much More Than Lent’s Happy Ending

Coming out of the Lenten season, the 40 days marked by the black ash of reflection, repentance, and fasting, it’s easy to mistake the celebratory nature of Easter as the reward of a happy ending. After all, in many ways, it is; the fulfillment of Jesus’s mission is complete. Forgiveness and redemption are available to us, as is the promise of eternal life. While it appears to be the best part of the story, it isn’t the whole of it.

What happens next is the crux of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It’s the pivotal part where we decide what we will do with the new life Christ offers us. Once the chocolate bunnies are consumed and the fancy attire is hung in the back of our closet, we choose whether we experience a rebirth or merely recycle the life we already know.

As an empty nester, sandwiched between two generations whom I cherish, increasingly aware of the fleeting nature of time, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I want to live this stage of life. Sometimes it’s fun to consider these changes: trips we could take, places we could live, different breeds of cats I could adopt. Sometimes I get really crazy and even consider lifting weights as part of a healthy aging regimen, but then I just return to all the cat iterations I’ve yet to own because lifting a 10-pound cat seems more fun than lifting a ten-pound weight.

Other times, change feels scary as I consider life without parents, our children’s future, and health concerns that inevitably pop up as we age. Regardless of what happens, I’m grateful for my life. What a gift it is not only to be given this time but also to have been given the chance of a new life through the mercy of God.

Every story is meant to be a story of redemption. The life we are offered at Easter isn’t concerned with the logistics of where we live or what we still hope to do, but how we choose to love and serve God. What’s being offered is deeper — hope for everlasting life. Still, it’s not automatic. It requires our participation.

God’s Call to Everyone

It’s easy to focus on what we think we should do instead of what God is actually calling us to do. We spend decades acquiring material possessions, status, and prestige. We hold on to these things as if they define this one unique life of ours. As if they hold the answer to our relevance in this world. Yet, no matter how much we try to complicate, examine, or define life’s purpose, the answer to it remains as simple as God’s greatest commandment to love Him and our neighbor. Life is about the love we give and receive.

Sometimes, the simpler life’s truths are the hardest to follow. Or maybe it’s only a matter of confusing the Hallmark perception of love with the holy love that God commanded. God teaches us that love is boundless and without condition. It also requires a lot of letting go — letting go of our own wants to give someone else what they need; letting go of the lies that tell us that our value is tied to what we do, what we own, or who we know; letting go of expectations and idealism that set our relationships up for failure; letting go of judgment and jealousy; and letting go of our stubborn will to let in God’s gentle grace. Love empties itself of resentment, anger, and hurt, allowing more room for what matters. It is the hardest and holiest love. And I don’t know of a truer or more significant way to live this one precious life of ours.

Easter: An Opportunity to Consider How We Want to Live

Easter offers us a chance to rewrite our stories to ensure we get the ending we want. It’s exciting to consider how we want to live. It’s so easy to get so bogged down in our routines and familiar thought patterns. We get attached to our carefully curated self-image, our jobs, our words, our plans, and the people we love. It’s a normal part of our story. Yet what we sometimes fail to recognize is that the best part of our story comes after we edit.

When we take out obstacles in our lives that keep us from God, we can draw closer to Him. When we let go of what our lives are supposed to look like and how our relationships are supposed to be, we make room for new experiences and more authentic interactions. Desperate to move forward but refusing to let go of what keeps us stuck, we stay trapped in our same old story.

God’s mercy allows room not only for our edits but for an entire rewrite. His mercy makes every moment new. The Resurrection ensured each of us a blank page to begin a new story.

Jesus died on the Cross because He believed we were worthy of a better story. May you write yours with the ending in mind.

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Copyright 2026 Lara Patangan
Images: Canva