Easter and stuff

Happy Tuesday, y'all. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

So, Easter. I wish my family had a proper Easter tradition, but things happen differently every year. I think this post is going to be somewhat anecdotal.

When I was little, I used to be really jealous of my friends who would wake up on Easter morning with a giant basket of candy. I think my parents either couldn't afford it at the time, or they didn't want to spoil us or give us the wrong idea of what Easter is about. Or both.

There were a few years during my childhood when we spent the day before Easter dyeing eggs, and after church the next day we'd go out to a park and hide them and do an egg hunt. That was fun. We'd have a big race to find the "golden egg", which was somehow special, although I can't honestly remember what the prize was for finding it. After that, we'd throw all the eggs in the river. (They were hard boiled, not plastic, obviously. Although I still don't know how eco-friendly it was.)

Funny story: one year, I spent a bunch of time on a certain egg, dyeing it in stripes and painting patterns on it, and I decided it was much too pretty to throw into the river. I took it home and hid it under my bed in my little box of treasures. And promptly forgot about it. A few weeks later, an awful smell brought the egg back to my attention. Imagine explaining THAT one to your mom!

Anyhoo, back to the theme, which is Easter traditions. In recent years, I've been involved in the music ministry at my church --the choir and whatever semblance of an orchestra we're able to scrape together-- and it's kept me really focused on the "true meaning of Easter" and the holiday as a ministry opportunity. Two years ago (I think it was), a girl who was struggling with drug addiction visited my church on Easter Sunday, and gave her life to Christ. Several months after that, she gave her testimony and told us how that experience had changed her life, how she got off of drugs and turned her life around. That story just reinforced for me that He lives, He saves, and that's what Easter is all about. (And hey, even if you don't believe, you can't deny that Easter as a religious holiday can have a positive impact in people's lives.)

Chuck mentioned that some people may be offended by the fact that we chose to write about Easter this week. I hope that's not the case. If it's an "issue" that some of us disagree on, I hope we can use the opportunity for discussion, and not feel like it's something that has to divide us. If Colin doesn't celebrate Easter, for instance, maybe he can blog about why, and what he does instead. Just a thought.

As for me, I find that Holy Week is often the most spiritually convicting part of the year. After all, it's really the crux of Christianity. I've always found it really beautiful. But I'll spare you any more Christian-y talk. Instead, listen to this lovely Owl City cover of "In Christ Alone." (I don't think this is really an Easter song per se, but I've always associated it with Easter.)

Sadly, we aren't really doing anything for Easter this year, because my cousin is getting married in Kansas the day after, and we're going to be on the road. Ah well.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of you guys write this week.

DFTBA