For Thanksgiving and Christmas, I usually have some activity in mind that will help Braelyn and I get our minds and hearts ready for the holiday. Somehow, Easter, the most important of holidays in my opinion, seems to sneak up on me each year, and while we do do the traditional egg dying and egg hunts, that sense of preparation, of repetition, of daily intentionality in digging into the Easter story has been lacking.
Thankfully, not this year. By some miracle, this idea popped into my head Palm Sunday afternoon, so as soon as Hobby Lobby opened Monday morning, we got our supplies and got to the work of celebrating the Risen Lord.
(So, yes technically this should have begun ON Palm Sunday, but we doubled up on Monday. :)
Each day of Passion Week, we read Scripture and then painted a wooden egg to remember that part of the story. It's not completely accurate chronologically, and a few details are missing, but I wanted to devote a whole day to the key points of the story.
Sunday: The Triumphal Entry
Reading: Mark 11:1-11
Reading: Mark 11:1-11
Monday: The Last Supper
Reading: Mark 14:12-25
Tuesday: The Garden of Gethsemane
Reading: Mark 14:32-42
Wednesday: The Arrest
Reading: Mark 14:43-50
Thursday: Jesus is mocked and beaten.
(That's the crown of thorns.)
Reading: Mark: 15:16-20
Good Friday: The Crucifixion
Reading: Mark 15:21-41
Saturday: The Burial
Reading: Mark 15:42-47
Easter: The Resurrection
Reading: Mark 16:1-8
What a long, hard, beautiful week!
All her eggs. And yes...we decorated some just for fun too. :)
My sweet girl working hard.
B and I had a really great time working on this project. I am looking forward to trying it again next year and seeing how it evolves as she gets older. It did take a chunk of of time each day, but it was worth every minute. B and I had so many great conversations about Jesus as we sat together painting our eggs, which for me, was really the whole point. I want her to see that Jesus is worth taking time to celebrate. He is worth our creativity. He is worth our hard work. He is worth our most elaborate preparation!
Anyways, just wanted to put this little idea out there, in case you're like me and are always on the lookout for ways to point our attention and affection towards Jesus during the holidays. How much more helpful would it have been if I had actually had the idea BEFORE Easter?! But, this really isn't the blog for EARLY helpfulness. Delayed helpfulness, maybe. Possibly. Early helpfulness, no.
Hope you had a beautiful Easter with lots of friends and family and food, and most of all...lots of Jesus!
Where Have I Been?: Part 2 to come later this week.
4 comments:
That is a fantastic idea. The hard part will be me trying to remember it for next year :)
Wow! Those eggs look great! I wish we were neighbors so my kids could join in on the creative projects that you do! I just don't have the time or the creative craftsy brain cells that you do. :-)
This is a great idea! On Easter Dylin told me, I don't want Easter to be over because she really likes reading scripture at dinner time. Such a great reminder that our preparing our hearts doesn't end at the "holiday". But that it should be daily, until we go Home.
Great idea! I might have to steal this for next year :)
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