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Spring is here! The sun is shining. The weather is so beautiful I cannot help but want to be outside as much as possible every day because I know soon enough the temperature will be approaching 100 and we will not be able to last very long without being in the shade.
But these last few weeks have been so incredibly glorious. We had a rough winter. Sickness invaded our home which was especially concerning with an infant and it was actually cold and rainy (and even snowed a couple times) for once in Houston so it wasn't as easy to open the backdoor and tell the boys to go outside and play. Spring is sweeter when you've been through a "real" winter.
Spring also means Easter is just around the corner. How can the holiday that celebrates the very cornerstone of our faith sometimes be an after thought for me? Paul boldly proclaims in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ was not raised, we are above all men the most to be pitied. The resurrection is the very crux of Christianity.
As a mom of littles, I want to communicate Easter is more about Jesus than it is about bunnies and candy and easter egg hunts (all of which we love). I am so thankful for the internet and also a community of moms through church and online that are like-minded. I stole some ideas from others the past couple of years with the hopes of communicating to our sons that Easter is a really big deal. It is about our Savior and the fact that He conquered sin and death and that because of that we have hope for eternal life! (Huge concepts to communicate to a 3 month old, 2 and 3 year old...maybe I am a little ambitious, lol).
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| Buy them here |
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We started doing Resurrection Eggs a couple years ago. Caleb didn't exactly "get it" when he was 18 months old, but we tried anyway. And hopefully, year after year the things we do will help all of our kiddos to understand who Christ is and what He has done.
Google Resurrection Eggs or look them up on Pinterest to see how to create some yourself. You can also buy the set (that comes with a little book) on amazon. There is another book that we read in addition called Benjamin's Box that follows along with the eggs. There are several ways to do them, but we open one each day for the 12 days leading up to Easter. Each egg has a symbol (donkey, coins, cup, etc) that represents something from the last week of Christ's life on Earth. There is Scripture to read each day as well.
This morning we opened up the egg that has the coins. The coins represent Judas' betrayal of his friend, Jesus. He was content to out Jesus to the officials for some cash. I found it a little challenging to explain the concept of betrayal to the boys. I tried to use a concrete example and said to Caleb, what if David told me ("bad" guy) where you were because I gave him something he really wanted (a favorite toy). But, I don't think he quite understood. It got me thinking...how often we give Judas a bad rep. I think, Judas! How could he!???
But am I like Judas more often than I care to admit? To I follow Christ because of what I can personally gain (a "good" marriage, friends, community, "well behaved" kids, etc) or do I follow him with the knowledge that it may cost me my life. In fact, true discipleship is always costly. It may not mean I give my physical life for the cause of Christ, but it surely should mean I lay down my life (my hopes, ambitions, desires, dreams, goals, my very SELF) at the foot of the cross and I come away with Christ, who is my new life. Oh, how easy it is for me to get side tracked and start living this life for the things I can see instead of the things that I cannot, which are more real, as they are eternal.
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| Got these at Hobby Lobby last year |
I am not very good at having original ideas. As much as I sometimes am fearful of our technology advanced world and what that means for the impact on my sons' brains, I am also incredibly thankful for the abundance of ideas out there. Why recreate the wheel if we don't have to? I read about this on God-Centered Mom's blog last year and thought it was such a powerful illustration! The idea is to speak with your kids about sin the night before Easter. A helpful definition is sin= choosing my way over God's way.
Sin (in greek is harmatia) and it literally means missing the mark, as in shooting an arrow- any miss of the target no matter how close is a sin. If you think that you are "good enough" to go to Heaven or to have a relationship with God then I question, how good is good enough? If God's standard is perfection, no matter how close we are on a ladder, we are still rungs beneath Him. Hitler may be at the bottom, Billy Graham may be closer to the top and we may be somewhere in the middle, but we aren't there. None of us is perfect.
Romans 3:23 speaks how we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
You have the kids think of some sins they struggle with (whining, fighting, disobeying, etc) and write them down on rocks. Then you put the rocks in their baskets.
On Easter morning, you have a basket labeled "Jesus" and put all the rocks into that basket and in the place of the rocks in their individual baskets you put gifts. This demonstrates the gospel- Jesus took our sins and gave us life instead.
3) Resurrection Rolls (or Hot Cross Buns)
We did this the last couple of years as well. You bake marshmallows in crescent rolls dipped in butter, cinnamon and sugar and the marshmallow melts leaving behind an "empty tomb". The first year we did this, Caleb then tore open every piece of bread he ate for weeks after and kept saying "Jesus isn't there!"
If you're like me at all, things like these ideas and others on Pinterest are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they are great and encouraging and you're thankful to add some of these into the rhythm of your own family, but on the other hand, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. It's easy to look at all the ideas and think, "I have to do all of these things to be a "good" mom!" Silence that voice. We are all uniquely created by God. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and what we do or do not do does not define us. You are free! So if these ideas (other's ideas, not my own and if you're in the Christian bubble at all, you've probably already heard of most or all of these) are helpful, run with them! If not, keep eating all the candy and being thankful for Easter morning.
This is the Recipe I've used.
4) Ideas for Easter Basket-
-Swimsuits, towels (got my boys these shark poncho towels this year), sidewalk chalk, bubbles, any summer activities, etc
- books are always a great thing to add
-puzzles
-coloring books, Melissa and Doug Water Wows, those special markers that are "mess free", etc
-Bibles/devotionals/DVDs that can help them "grow" with God as they continue to get older
This year we bought the Bible DVD and I'm excited to see if they like it as much as they did the DVD we bought about the Christmas Story.
Judas again....
Today after leaving the park with friends, I noticed my gas tank was almost below E (oops!). So I pulled into the first gas station I saw and realized I did not have my wallet! I left it in my tutoring bag from last night. After panicking for a moment and mentally scanning through my options, I decided to drive back to the park and beg my friends to let me borrow some money to be able to get home.
I explained to the boys that we had to go back to the park and that we were going to borrow some money. To which Caleb happily replied, "Like Judas in the Bible!" (clearly we need to work on explaining this story a little more). I said, "Not exactly, bud. Judas was paid money to tell the soldiers where Jesus was. Our friends are being kind and letting us borrow money so we can get gas to get home."
Minutes later, we were back at the gas station, my friend's credit card in tow. My heart was filled with immediate relief when I saw the word "approved" on the gas tank after I correctly entered in her zip code.
Friends, this is the Gospel. Jesus has paid for our sins. And because of his gift, we are approved unto God. I could have gone in to the gas station and begged them to let me fill up my tank. I could have listed out all the reasons why I deserved their help (I have 3 little kids, I'm a "good" person, I can pay you back, even) but I didn't have any way to pay, so I could not get the gas to go home.
Without Jesus, we have NO WAY TO PAY. We are poor. Our righteousness is filthy rags to Him. If we want to go home, we have to use His credit card, if you will. We have to acknowledge that He lived a perfect life. As the Son of God He willingly laid down His life and paid for our sin (as Caleb likes to say "He took our spankings") when He died on the cross, and that 3 days later He conquered death when He rose again.
I often miss the gospel when I attempt to pay myself. I think, if only I do this, if only I could earn His favor someway, then He will approve of me. But friends, this is religion. This is works based theology. The good news is that He has already paid for us. We accept His gift of grace not based on merit at all!
Though this gift, this credit card- it isn't cheap. Jesus paid with His life. Now imagine in my story above, if I kept my friend's credit card for the rest of my life and constantly used it to charge whatever I wanted without consulting her. Even more, what if I never spoke to her again! True salvation isn't a one time swipe of the card, but a daily relationship and walk with Him. We fail continually, and ask for His forgiveness again and again, but we seek to consult Him, we commit our lives to Him, we care about what He cares about. We love what He loves and hate what He hates. We want to live a life that is pleasing to Him because He loves us.
But how often do we miss the full picture? When we think of salvation as a one time prayer, a one time payment and go on living the rest of our lives for ourselves, we miss it. We miss all the things God has for us in Christ Jesus. I can so easily get off-track. But, I am so thankful for His promise to bring what He started to completion (Philippians 1:6). And oh for grace and wisdom to be able to explain this beautiful mystery to our boys and that they would believe and have eternal life (John 3:16).
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