Most years Easter rolled around and I couldn’t help but quietly lament about the lack of pastel colored peanut M&Ms and Hershey’s kisses available to me. I’m a sucker for holiday treats and Australia doesn’t have the options I had become accustomed to growing up in Oregon. Holidays overseas always brought my homesickness bubbling to the surface. For more reasons than just the M&Ms, the prospect of being Stateside for Easter this year was hugely exciting to me.
Days after landing on American soil for our first furlough in 14 years of missions and ministry, I was roaming the isles of Target looking for inspiration for my husband’s 40th birthday party when the glimmer of pastel caught my eye. Veering my cart toward the Easter displays made me giddy. . . and then disappointed.
Row after row of every candy imaginable dipped in pastel seduction neatly lined the shelves. Beyond that, bin after bin of small “Easter basket presents” filled a huge section of the back wall. The sight of it all was overwhelming and I immediately had to turn away. {There really can be too much of a good thing.}
It reminded me of last year, scrolling through Instagram seeing pictures of pretty Easter baskets stuffed with goodies. {I adore a good Easter basket.} Some of the photos I saw were of baskets not only filled, but overflowing and covering entire tables with presents for the littles to wake up to on Resurrection Sunday. They were scenes that would rival Christmas morning in most homes around the world.
Maybe it was culture shock after living overseas for so long, but the sight of it all made my heart ache just a little.
I’m all for gift-giving. I love the expression of generosity and believe it can be a beautiful reflection of the heart of God toward us. Since becoming a mother myself, I can absolutely relate with the desire to shower my kids with presents that will bring them delight and pleasure. {Quite honestly I love any opportunity to have an “excuse” to buy them gifts; gift giving is one of my strongest love languages.} But I think there’s value in considering seriously how we set our littles up to see and perceive all things Easter.
Never have I met a Christian mother without a desire for her kids to grasp the true meaning of Easter — the depth of its significance is the very crux of our faith. {Ironically, I can’t think of another aspect of the Christian faith that is harder to understand or explain than the death and resurrection of Jesus. Lord help us all!} And so perhaps I’m preaching to the choir here—we are all moms seeking to raise our children with grace and intentionality—but if we’re not careful then we can become a great hindrance in our children’s journey toward having their own revelation of what Easter is all about.
I believe there is one key question we can all ask to help us evaluate the type of Easter experience we teach our children through our actions:
When my children are grown, what do I want them to remember most about their childhood Easters?
Is it the family gathering around a meal in celebration of relationships and provision? Is it the abundant life made available in Jesus? The congregation of believers singing “He is risen!” in one voice? The sunrise and its promise of hope and a new beginning and a future with the whole earth redeemed unto Him? The hunt for eggs or candy and the parallels to the search for the risen Lord? Dressing in our Easter best in honor of the anticipation of meeting our King? Serving those who’ve not yet had the chance to meet the risen Christ? Asking God to resurrect places in our own lives and hearts where we have experienced heartache and disappointment, loss and death?
Or do we want them to remember it by wish lists and an abundance of presents and trinkets and enough candy and novelty items to leave a parent feeling broke and overextended and a child over-stimulated and over-indulged?
Obviously the answer is a no-brainer, and yet it’s easy to get swept up in the cultural storm of excess, enticed by the “just one more thing” rabbit hole of consumerism. {I know this because I’ve been guilty of it.}
This is not a plea to the American church to refrain from buying your child a gift or a new outfit at Easter. Lord knows I’m looking forward to seeing little boys in bow ties and little girls in white hats — this just doesn’t happen Down Under and I think it’s entirely lovely. And this is also not a suggestion that you should skip the eggs and candy and pretty baskets all together.
This is a nudge to think about what and how we as moms are communicating to our children on this most important of holy days – the holiday where we commemorate the life and death and resurrection of the One we call Savior, King, Redeemer, and Lord.
This is a prayer that we remember JESUS and help our littles see beyond those yummy, pretty pastel peanut M&Ms.
For the Bookers, this means starting Easter morning with a family dance party in our jammies as a passionate Keith Green leads us in celebration and praise of a King who is well and truly alive. {Before we dig in to the pastel chocolate goodness and put on our Sunday best for church.}
Let’s remember to put first things first.
Dear friends, when your children are grown, what do you want them to remember most about their childhood Easters?
Some of my most treasured Easter memories are from growing up – in Central Oregon, it was a huge custom to have a outside Sunrise Service. (Perhaps it was because we had gorgeous scenery to behold as that sun rose?) But now, in the mid-west, I’ve not been to any. I miss those. I loved the singing of the great hymns – Christ Arose, Because He Lives, etc…and really long for the tradition of those on Easter morning. We might have a simple egg hunt after church (if there wasn’t any snow on the ground!) but really, it was all about the church service and worship on that holy day. I could probably still recall many of my Easter dresses, so that is one tradition I’ve kept as a family – a new outfit and our Easter best for church. Our new tradition has morphed into a simplified dinner after church of springtime salads – chicken salad, fruit salad, tabbouli, deviled eggs, croissants, etc… as it can all be prepared ahead of time to save that rush after church. Thanks for sharing this Adriel. xoxo
I love the tradition of a new Easter outfit and “bringing our best” to a worship service for Easter too. In Australia, people don’t really dress up for Easter – at least not like they do here. This year I’m taking advantage of being stateside and putting the boys in bow ties. Can’t wait. 🙂 I’m looking forward to explaining to them WHY we get so dressed up and how it’s a representation of how we want to honor our King.
Happy Easter Sara!! x