Lessons for Easter Week

Easter week is always my favorite. Each day of the week, we have the opportunity to study the word of God together as a family and think on the sacrifice that Jesus made so that we could be saved from our sins.

How Jesus started the week being celebrated and ended it with sacrificing His life show just how much can happen in 7 days.

But that wasn't the end of the story, was it?

Death couldn't hold our Lord down, and after 3 days He Arose!

The tomb was empty! The biggest news ever!

I think that is so symbolic of the times that we are in right now. We can choose to stagger around in a fear ball or we can remember that, at the end of the week, year, everything...love wins! That God is in control.

Yesterday was so amazing for me. The chores were whirring in the dishwasher and washing machine. The sun was cascading in the windows and I could hear the birds outside chirping away. The children were studying on their own, Cal at a math game on the computer and Emma studying latin verbs.

I poured myself a mug of coffee and went outside. Slowly, I meandered through our yard and then over to the garden. I soaked it all in, carefully, intentionally. When I looked around I felt as though I were coming awake after a long nap.

And slowly I was overcome with such a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for what we have, right under our noses, that we don't often even realize.

Sometimes God's goodness is all so overwhelming.

Here are some things I've chronicled that I came across with gratitude:

Hydrangeas in bloom. They always bloom right before our tulips which means those should be coming up soon!

Crisp chives coming back up after a winter nap.

Scilla exploding everywhere throughout our property.

Wild onions we have been finding all over the place. We've been snipping them to dry and place on our spice wall.

This pink Hydrangea was just in the grass and those are the fun surprises that await us around our yard...blooms planted ages ago by a previous owner that sprout up to show us a little something extra to smile about.

Two years ago we moved our garden from the south side of our house to the east. I pushed aside some leaves in the old garden bed and found a teeny bit of mint starting to come back. I will be so excited to have mint tea this summer.

This is what I want to focus on this week...the lesson of gazing and studying the overwhelming, never-ending, breathless love of God.

We've been discussing these lessons with the children too. I sometimes struggle with how to make them fully understand, but in the end it isn't up to me: I am simply a vessel trying to help model God's work.

I show them God's goodness through modeling intentional living. Through showing them how amazing this world is, how gratifying taking care of things within it can feel.

I love having them experience the peace that comes from stopping to smell the roses, or the spicy scent of onions that are found in the ground.

It is amazing to sit in a field and enjoy an afternoon together filled with coloring, drawing, discussing, and reading.

I love to watch whole worlds unfold around us as we read about Vikings, Franks, and all of the people aboard a flatboat, bound for North America.

And so, this Easter while we may not be able to meet at church to hear the sermon, there is still a sermon, a lesson, all around us, in the earth. The very soil sings of God's goodness, of Christ's return, and of the Lord's faithfulness. When we learn that lesson, we can experience the joy that only He can give.

Happy Easter, friends. May the Lord bless you and keep you!