Easter

Easter... What does this holiday mean to you? What traditions do you associate with this day?

When I was a little girl Easter meant a basket filled with chocolates and treats. A new dress, sometimes with a little bonnet. Sometimes with a little purse and gloves. It meant decorating eggs, and finding them, hidden in the yard. It meant getting together with family and sharing a special meal.

The Jelly Bean Flowers... this is a tradition that my children and I share at Easter. We make this simple flower arrangement and place it on our kitchen table.

Red is for the blood He gave,

Green is for the grass He made,

Yellow is for His sun so bright,

Orange is for the edge of night,

Black is for the sins we made,

White is for the grace He gave,

Purple is for His hours of sorrow,

Pink is for our new tomorrow.

I don't remember ever knowing, as a little girl, what Easter really means. I never knew that Easter was God's way of showing His love for us. That it was His sacrifice of His Son on a cross at Calvary. That it was the God-man, taking on flesh, taking on our sins, my sins, onto His own body. That it was His taking the punishment, the beatings, back laid open bare, blood flowing, shedding, for me. I never knew.

My son, Will, flanked on both sides by friends, at our church's annual egg hunt. Making a cross, a visual reminder of the love flowed mingling down.

And when I was saved as a grown woman, I determined that I wanted my children to know, to really know, what Easter really means.

Yes, I have continued some of the traditions from my childhood with my own children. I fill a basket with chocolates and treats for each of my children. My daughter gets a new dress, my boys get new shirts. We decorate eggs and go on egg hunts. Some years we have even bought a little "Easter bunny." (We love rabbits!)

But we also have a few new traditions. We make these cookies, a creative telling of the Easter story. Sometimes we use the Resurrection Eggs to explain the Easter story. Sometimes we find a new book to read during the month leading up to Easter. This year we read Amon's Adventure. And I can't say enough positive about this book. Wonderful story! A must-read!

Another Easter tradition I started several years ago is waking my children on Easter morning with an enthusiastic "He is risen!" And they always respond (sometimes a bit sleepy-eyed) with a resounding, "He is risen indeed!" 

And they know what I did not know. That Easter is not just another holiday. It is a holy day. A day to remember just how much our God loves us. A reminder that we serve a living Lord, a King who conquered death, who paid the ransom for our sin-debt, a ransom that we could never pay! A day to celebrate our risen Savior!

He is risen! He is risen indeed! So, go tell someone!