Whispers Of God…

EASTER MEMORIES

When Lindy and I began raising our three sons back in the eighties, we did our best to create and keep significant holiday traditions and cherished memories in the Lord for them to pass along to their children.

Now that all three sons are married to three lovely young ladies who also love the Lord, our seven grandchildren are experiencing many of those life-grounding traditions as they celebrate the holidays. Since this is Easter month, I thought you might like a peek at some of those lovely activities to maybe add a few to your own. And as you will see, my wife is amazingly creative!

Palm Sunday Stuffies. Palm Sunday is the week before Easter Sunday that highlights the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. Our fun activity was to line up all their stuffies (cuddly stuffed animals) along both sides of our hallway, after choosing one to be Jesus to sit on the closest thing to a donkey we could find. Then we’d all use some palm fronds from the yard to wave as we told the “Hosanna” story from Scripture while moving “Jesus” down the hallway.

Good Friday Crosses. Just before sunset on Good Friday, we’d gather the family in the back yard to let each son help hammer three small crosses into the ground as we briefly told the story of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, followed by sharing a prayer of thanksgiving and singing “Amazing Grace.” Our guys have said they remember this activity the most and now we get to do it with them, their wives, and the grandkids!

Good Friday Cross Cake. For our Good Friday meal, before or after the worship service at our church, Lindy served a German chocolate cake (looks a bit like wood) in the shape of the cross for dessert as we offered another prayer of thanksgiving!

Easter Egg Blessings. Whether on Saturday or Easter Sunday, our Easter eggs for the kids to find included the treasure of rolled up Scripture passages inside the colored plastic eggs to bless them along with the treasure of candy or chocolate.

Easter Morning Flowers. On Easter morning we would put a small pot of flowers at the foot of the center cross in the backyard to commemorate how Jesus defeated death when He rose from the grave! A great visual as we would prepare to go to Easter services later that morning! And we still do this today.

Easter Crown Cake. After our Easter afternoon meal, Lindy had a plain white cake or cupcakes at a decoration station with all kinds of sprinkles and icing for the little ones to decorate as they saw fit to celebrate King Jesus and His completed work on the cross!

Let’s not miss the many opportunities we have to pass along our values to our children, my friends. Thousands of others are trying to shape them with their cacophony of values through social media, movies, music, videos, schools, text books, streaming, gaming, clubs, teams, political activism and more. It’s a jungle out there. Don’t leave them to make their way alone. Stick by their side. Guide them from the heart. Pray with them each night. Love them and create some powerful memories now, to protect and empower them in the future. So this Easter, why not let the Lamb be more of a focal point than the bunnies. Just a thought.

Savoring the Lamb with you,

Pastor Mark