EASTER!

Easter is my favorite holiday - tied with Valentine's Day. Easter makes me think of flowers, the color yellow, family gatherings, singing at church, kids all dressed up, egg hunts, beauty, and renewal. It is such a purposeful celebration of faith, and a lovely introit into Spring. A hopeful season, fresh and clean. For as long as I can remember I've spent about 6-7 hours at church Easter Sunday morning helping with the morning breakfast, Sonrise, Early, and Late Services - with Sunday School and Children's Church smashed in there somewhere. The day before is spent leading a community Easter Egg Hunt - which is hectic and crazy, but loads of fun. This year our choir is doing a cantata on Friday night - along with communion. A very dramatic and somber program, but going to be really well done.

It's also the time of year I am challenged with the avoidance of buying an Easter outfit (a tradition from my childhood!) - but usually pick up something to shake up an outfit I already own. This year I bought a thrifted skirt - stripey and pastel. Haven't worked out that whole ensemble yet though. I make deviled eggs (hopefully after coloring eggs with someone), and a dessert for our meal. Bring Easter baskets for my parents, and recieve my own along with my brother. We eat, nap, and hopefully play games. 

I'm excited to relax; to celebrate; to give thanks for the greatest gift.

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him."

John 3:16-18 The Message