TGIF.

Personally, Monday is my best day of the week, especially if it falls on the first day of a new month. That’s a great big shout-out from my most OCD personality trait, screaming CONTROL!

However, there is one particular Friday in the Christian calendar that tops all other days of the week, that is Good Friday, hence today’s title: TGIF.

This Friday is the day that I am able to relinquish the weight of my humanness, the weight of the sinful nature that I carry as a person on this planet, the weight of mishaps and missteps and perhaps regrets. This is the day that God, in the very human person of his own beloved Son, took all that weight away by dying in the cruelest way known to man, being nailed to a wooden cross to suffocate for you and for me.

So the tragedy of the darkest day known to mankind, is also the “goodest day” for all of us. How weird that something so utterly inhumane, tragic and devastating, should ultimately be what bestows the gift of eternal life on us all – thank you, Jesus!

Ordinary Fridays are the day that most corporate people say “Thank God it’s Friday”, heralding the end to the working week and the beginning of the much anticipated weekend. Unless one is a farmer, then the weekend, for farm labourers, usually means down-tools for a couple of days, but the farmer is still on call, 24 hours, 365 days a year. As a result, my life-long farmer, dear departed Dad, found the TGIF acronym more of an annoyance than a delight.

Perhaps it is from him that I relish a Monday as the best day of the week?

This particular Friday, being a Good one, was especially good as we found ourselves reunited with family back in our adopted homeland of The Netherlands. What a delight to be so warmly welcomed into a homely home, filled with the delight of three little girls who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Easter Bunny. The pleasure of reliving the magical moments of our own little girl’s excitement, warmed our hearts.

The beauty of the emerging spring, from the budding bushes and trees, the blossoming of the magnificent magnolias and fruit trees and the burgeoning bulbs that litter the road verges and traffic islands with their vibrant hues, all ahead of the acres of hyacinths and tulips that soon paint these flat lands with eye watering colour, made me think of the “Easter flowers” of our home country, South Africa: the common cosmos. These pink, white and magenta beauties form hedges of soft, floaty colour along roadsides and between maize fields, signalling the glory of this Easter season, ahead of the winter bleakness.

So why the combination of religion, secular and natural? Because, to me, they all sort of work together to maintain tradition, mystery and magical moments in families. I have the fondest memories of Christian holidays perfectly gelled with secular scenarios and natural wonders that live forever as some of our “best times”, usually riotously combined with all our cousins, special friends and the relaxation of the adults, not dissimilar to the TGIF generation that we currently live in – bring it ON!

Wishing you all a truly blessed Easter.