We always celebrate and remember Easter based on Christ- I have already stated this in a previous post but this year has been fun to incorporate some new traditions, ie: from Konos. We have crafted butterflies out of tissue paper, pretended to be a chick hatching from an egg, played charades with " what type of egg am I?" , had our own egg rolling contest and read the Easter story many, many times talking about it and discussing it during our nightly, family devotion time. Also, we nailed together a cross and are hanging all of our sins on it that we did just this week. I felt truly inspired by the Holy Spirit do show how sinful, by nature, we truly are. When the kids wake up on Resurrection Sunday all of those sins will be taken off the cross and instead there will be " the blood of Christ". I am really, really excited by this. I keep thinking about John in the bible, in Revelations, where he starts crying about who can open the seal and the silence in heaven and how there has only been and only will be ONE who has conquered the power over death, hell and the grave and his name is Jesus. Praise you Jesus!
"Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals." Revelations 5:4-5
Today, we will be making hot cross buns. I learned just this week that in England,
http://www.wyrdology.com/festivals/easter/hot-cross-bun.html, the buns were adopted to show a cross on them, symbolism of the Crucifixion however, the Saxons ate them with symbolisms to their gods and pagan rituals. After reading these different histories on where the word "Easter" comes from ( They first appear as cakes made by the pagan Saxons to worship Eostre, the god of spring) I am realizing that although there are so many fun and different ways to incorporate Christ, the true reason is Christ not tradition. I love Resurrection Sunday that I can show my children that we do not worship a dead god, but rather a living God that Christ's bones are not in the ground but that He is alive! One of my favorite songs for this week is " O Sacred Head Now Wounded" - the beauty of the words as it describes what Christ suffered for our sins and ultimate damnation breaks my heart. For someone to have that much love- to die for the child molester as well as the liar, the one who tortures innocent victims and the stealing of a $5 item. To have that love, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:19.
Enjoy your weekend and remember, its not about you or what you can do or have done, its about recognizing and receiving the cost of suffering that Christ paid for you on that cross. If you do not have an active, obedient life in Christ- receive it today. He loves you more than you could comprehend and you have nothing to lose and everything to gain- " To live is Christ, and to die is gain"
