There's something ironically sad about dead bunnies on the side of the road on Easter weekend. Our street has two of them. Two. Dead. Bunnies. Dead animals make me cringe - dead bunnies at Easter, I can't even look. Kind of reminds me of the day George proposed to me. As he was driving from Meadville, PA to my place in BeaverFalls, PA, he hit a robin, the bird, but yes, a robin. Good thing there's not a superstitious bone in his body!
Back to the bunnies though.
Back to the dead bunnies.
Death and Easter are like peas in a pod. You can't have one without the other.
Good thing they aren't the only peas in the pod though.
Good thing there is hope.
Good thing we aren't left with "good" Friday.
Good thing our Jesus is not left on the cross or in the grave like those dead bunnies on my street.
Good thing there is LIFE.
You know - those bunnies? They are dead. I guarantee you that tomorrow morning they will still be dead. Very dead. But Jesus? Tomorrow morning we will wake up and whisper in our kid's ears, "He is risen!", and they'll respond (albeit somewhat sleepily) "He is risen INDEED!" And they are not talking about the bunnies, they are talking about Jesus. He is risen!
When we lived in North Carolina the church had (and probably still has) a large wooden cross covered with chicken wire. On Easter Sunday the cross was set outside the church and as people came into the church they stuck flowers in the cross. By the end of the morning the cross was filled with flowers. It was absolutely gorgeous!
I've never been good at keeping track of our kid's height and weight - too much detail. But I had the idea to take a picture of the kids every year in front of the Easter cross. The cross never changed. My kids grew. What a beautiful way to mark their growth - measuring growth in the "shadow" of the cross. Follow the cross and you will find life. Follow the cross and you will grow.
I hope this Easter that as we have some fun with egg hunts and Easter Bunnies that we don't for a minute lose sight of the cross. I recently read a blog where a woman was complaining about the burden of buying gifts for her children for Easter. She was talking big gifts, like bikes. I wanted to jump through the computer screen, give her a big old hug and tell her she is free from that burden. The cross of Jesus offers freedom, and I think the first bit of freedom we need to grasp onto is the freedom from the Easter Bunny. It's not about gifts from a bunny. The bunny is dead - remember. It's about gifts from a Jesus who rose from the dead, lives forever and offers us that life.
Tomorrow morning join us in whispering to the kids, "He is Risen".
And let's all respond, "He is risen INDEED!"
1 comment:
this year i found myself thinking i didn't want to do the easter bunny thing. just like i am beginning to have issues with santa.....i never thought i was going to be that way....but now i think i am. if we could do santa and the bunny on days other than the days they are supposed to be on, i might not have a problem with it.... i just want those days to be about HIM and not have anything else take away from it!! we've tried to find the right balance for us...still working on that. freedom from the easter bunny sounds good to me!!!!
kori d
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