Today I am preparing for tomorrow. As my late mother and grandmother once did, I'll set the Easter

dinner table a day early with fresh linens in spring pastels. I'll bake a ham and prepare the traditional Slovak dishes of sausage and sauerkraut, and Sedak (Easter cheese), just as Mom used to do.

Tomorrow is our first Easter Sunday without Mom. Like me, she loved everything about this holy holiday. She'd don a new dress, attend her church's Easter cantata, buy chocolate bunnies and trinkets for her great-grandchildren, and dab tears from her eyes as we'd read Scriptures and pray before dinner. After dinner, Mom and Dad would settle into my oversized chair together to relax and watch their great-grandchildren scurry for Easter eggs and quarry their candy-laden baskets.

For Mom, Easter meant the promise of eternal life both here and in the hereafter. So although I will miss her, I will not mourn. You see, mom is very much alive… just not here.

Shortly after Mom's passing in December, my brother Marshall e-mailed me a devotional written by Jon Walker that describes it best. A portion reads: "God has the last word on death. If you listen, he will tell you the truth about your loved ones. They've been dismissed from the hospital called Earth. You and I still roam the halls, smell the medicine, and eat green beans and Jell-O off of plastic trays.

"Meanwhile, they enjoy picnics, inhale springtime and run through knee-high flowers. You miss them like crazy…But won't you see them soon? When you drop your kids off at school, do you weep as though you'll never see them again? When you drive your spouse to the store, do you bid a final forever farewell?

"When you say ‘I'll see you soon,' you mean it. When you stand in the cemetery and stare down at the soft, freshly turned earth and promise, ‘I'll see you soon,' you speak the truth…so go ahead face your grief. Give yourself time. Permit yourself tears. God understands. He knows the sorrow of a grave…but he also knows the joy of resurrection. And, by his power, you will, too."

Earth is not our final destination, we are merely passing through. Easter celebrates Jesus' death and resurrection with the promise of a new life in Christ to those who accept Him so that when our bodies die, we will live on.

The late evangelist D.L. Moody said: "One day you'll read in the newspaper that I have died. Don't believe it. I'll be more alive than I ever have been before."

Are you prepared for tomorrow? Is the table set? Are your sins forgiven? Do you know the Savior? Jesus wants to forgive you and embrace you just as you are, right where you are. After all, it's almost Resurrection Day.