Easter

My four beautiful children at Easter time 1989. These were the "days of my innocence" as I have previously described. Is there a better reason to celebrate than Easter?... I don't think so.

When I was a little girl the Easter Bunny was not a tradition in our family. Now don't be feeling sorry for me, or thinking that I was deprived... I wasn't. Every Easter that I can remember, my Mother made me a beautiful new Easter dress... sometimes I even got a new pair of shoes, and I always had plenty of chocolates too. Some years I had an Easter basket... and some years we woke up on Easter morning to find our melamine dinner plates sitting on the coffee table, one for each child, covered in Easter grass with our chocolates spread on top. We were happy and we didn't complain that we didn't get a visit from the Easter Bunny like all of our friends did, we knew who the gift was from and we were grateful for it.

I am preparing a lesson for Sunday School next week where we will be discussing symbols. As I think about some of the traditional symbols of Easter many things come to my mind: bunnies, baskets, chocolates, egg hunts, Easter dinners, new clothes, spring break... these are things that the world tells me Easter is about. But I know differently.

Although I claim fall as my favorite season of the year, there is something unique and special about spring that in a way elevates the season into a category all on it's own... an incomparable of sorts. Every spring I am amazed and awed when I see tiny bits of green begin to pop out of the ground and soon bloom into beautiful plants and flowers. I see the buds appear on the trees and soon the formation of leaves filling their branches. It is a miracle as I watch the "dead" earth come back to life...year after year.

I have become more aware of this in the years since Ashleigh's death. It is hard to comprehend that someday there will be a resurrection, that bodies and spirits will be reunited. And yet this annual renewal of the earth is one way that testifies to me that it will happen. It will. What peace and joy that brings to my heart and soul.

I love chocolate as much as anyone else (maybe more), but when I think about Easter... this is what it means to me. I know who this gift is from... and I'm so grateful for it.