Happy Easter - Random Easter Thinking

I was raised without religion so when I was growing up this holiday was all about bunnies and chocolate. I don't recall attending an Easter Service until I was adult.

At my grandmother's house, we would fill plastic eggs with candy and hide them around her yard and then go seek them out. We took turns hiding them from one another and occasionally an adult would oblige us and hide them for us so we could all go hunting at the same time. The kids around would have been myself, my brother and my two uncles, who ranged in age from a year younger than I to four years older, with various cousins dropping in from time to time.



I remember getting up and seeing big Easter baskets a la Santa Claus on Easter morning. Some years they came with little garden tools or plastic lawnmowers but always lots of candy.

Our eggs came from chickens on the farm and they were mostly brown so we didn't dye them. Brown eggs simply don't dye that well. I remember my mother purchased white eggs a few times simply so we could dye them. I don't recall being all that excited about the process of watching them turn colors. I do remember being warned about being sure we found them all because otherwise they would stink if we left them lying about.



Because we raised chickens, I never wanted to receive a little chick on Easter.

Easter is a time of promise and renewal. A time of new beginnings. Outside my window I see green fields now where only a few weeks ago there was nothing but brown grass. In the far field the mustard has sprung up, leaving a yellow streak among the green. Daffodils dance in the wind. The trees have hints of green and the mountains are no longer dull. The leaves aren't out yet but their buds tint the landscape. The redbuds are opening, dogwoods are venturing forth and the birds are singing lustily from the trees.



I celebrate Easter and God's glory in the wonders of nature and the joyfulness of life. The sky is my cathedral, the trees my columns, the landscape my stained-glass windows, the damp earthy my pew. The Word of God is whispered on the wind if one only stops to listen and the Words are written all around us if we only open our eyes and look.

Life and Love.
Life and Love.
Life and Love.
Amen.