Reevaluating Easter

My thoughts have changed over the years concerning this holiday. How I was raised to the things I bought into from a secular worldview to being a mom and understanding the importance of priorities. My views and actions have even changed in the past four years. It just seems that Easter has become so commercialized (as Christmas has) that it's lost the seriousness of what it truly means. I'm in my 40's and still weep every Easter at the realization of what Christ did for me. I have trouble singing the songs and swallowing the communion because the visual picture in my mind of the interrogation and brutal beatings are so vivid. In a way, I regret seeing the movie "The Passion of Christ" because of its graphic detail. Those images were already permanently impressed in my mind before I saw the movie. I'm a visual person and happen to remember in great detail what I watch. I can still tell you explicit facts of scary movies I watched with my dad as a preteen. Those images are photocopied in my brain. This is why I'm so careful, even to this day, what I watch on TV or at the movies.

We actually talk about the Crucifixion and Jesus' trial often in our household - and not just at Easter. It was just two weeks ago that my son and I discussed how Jesus handled his trial. He never said a word to his accusers in defense of the wrongly stated accusations.

He just looked at them.

How strenuous that is. Someone unjustifiably accuses you of something you never did or starts a false rumor about you...what do you do? What did Jesus do? It's hard to watch your children go through something like this. We cry, talk and comfort them and then do the most important thing we could ever do. We pray with them and point them back to the cross.

We did not have any massive Easter clothes shopping done in our household (I do have a new $3 shirt to wear that I bought on clearance at Christmas time but never donned!) We are not going out to eat, and I never decorated the house for Easter (haven't done that in several years). Not that there is anything wrong with these things - they just aren't a priority for me. After lunch today, we are going to get out our 12 Resurrection Eggs and remind our children what Jesus did for them. Yes, even my 17 year old needs to be reminded.

May we never be too old to hear the retelling of the resurrection story and may our hearts never grow callused to the gravity of His sacrifice.

I hope you attend an Easter service tomorrow and that you come to His house ready to reflect on His blood that was shed for you. The new Easter clothes are beautiful indeed, but where would we be without Jesus?