Easter

Do any of the rest of you have the same conflict concerning holidays within yourself that I do? I love holidays. At Christmas I love the presents and gatherings, the food and the music. I love the decorations and the general sense of anticipation. At Easter time I love the bunny and the eggs, the baskets and the ham. I know these are the frivolous parts of the holidays, but I love them. This is not to say that I don't love the religious parts too, because I do. Certainly there is some overlap. Many of my favorite Christmas songs are about Christ, but some are about mommy kissing Santa Claus.

So, here I am at Easter time, struggling with the same old stuff. I love the true meaning of Easter. Doesn't any Christian? I tell my kids that this holiday is a celebration of the most significant day ever in human history. I want more than anything for my kids to know Christ. I want them to understand his great sacrifice and to accept it in their lives. I want them to have a desire to emulate this great man, this son of God. I truly believe that this one bit of understanding will bring them more peace and happiness in their lives than just about anything else. So how do I get this message across amidst the bunnies and easter egg hunts that I admittedly enjoy?

We try at our house, we really do. All month long in December we read from what we call 'the Christmas book.' It's a collection of stories and scriptures about Christ and Christlike service. Several years ago we started dividing Easter into two parts. Saturday morning we do the baskets etc. On Sunday morning we make 'empty tomb rolls' and we watch 'Finding Faith in Christ.' Like I said, we really do try. But yesterday I asked Annie Grace why we celebrate Christmas and she said, "Because it's fun?" With a little prompting she remembered it was Christ's birthday, but still. And at the age of four she had know memory at all of why we celebrate Easter. Not so encouraging for this mother of five.

Needless to say, this stuff has been weighing on my mind. I started thinking about my older kids. Happily, at their age, they do know the true meaning of the holidays, so I guess I'm not messing everything up too entirely. Why do they know? I suppose because they are older and they remember now from year to year. But why do they know these things are important? Hopefully because we don't just talk about it a couple of times a year. Hopefully also because the kids see us trying to be Christlike. We often fall short, but maybe then they can see us believe in the atonement as we repent and try to do better. I don't know. The only thing I know for sure is that parenting seemed a lot easier before we had kids. I suppose in a lot of ways the atonement itself is the answer to my question. The atonement teaches us to do the very best we can and then let go and trust the Savior to handle the rest.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and that you find the peace and love of the Savior this year. Have fun and spend lots of time together. I love you.

Jenn