What Happened to Easter?

Pin It I don't know about you, but I have a new found fire about Easter this season. I know it is because my boys are old enough to understand what Christ did for us and I know it is the trick of the Devil is trying to steal this opportunity right out from under us.

What happened to the message of Easter? What happened to the preparation for this sacred day? I am sick about the thought of my kids growing up to think that Easter is just about candy, eggs and bunnies. What a tool of the Devil.

This season is about so much more and I want to soak up every second, turning my families eyes to the Author of Our Faith and the stories behind how we get to have all our sins forgiven. I feel like I want to dance for joy and throw an Easter party! But, I didn't always feel like that. It was only as I read an studied about what Christ did for me that I wanted to share it with them.

 I know it is hard to be intentional as a mom. Sometimes I think if I just do a good enough job (consistent discipline and training, loving them, feeding them on a regular basis, bathing them) that they will turn out all right. The truth is... I want so much more. I want warriors of the faith, evangelists, servant leaders, biblical scholars. I am not excellent in any of these areas so the devil can gnaw at me telling me I am not capable of this job, but in Christ I am.

So... for Easter we will learn and CELEBRATE. I want this to be a season rich in tradition and faith for our family that my children always remember and look forward too. Here are a few of the fun activities that we have planned for Holy Week as we prepare our hearts for what Christ did for us on the cross.

• Resurrection egg hunt every night. We hunt for the eggs and then tell the story of Easter with each egg.

• Easter Nativity. I found these printouts at  http://catholicicing.com/2011/04/religious-easter-craft-for-kids-make/ . This was so fun! We had some older cousins help us out and we have been telling the story of Easter with it repeatedly.

• Pretzels. This is a tradition food of lent. The pretzels symbol arms crossed in pray as we prepare for Easter. We will eat these for lunch each day this week with grape juice to symbolize the blood Christ shed for us on the cross.

• Memory Verse. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has dies has been freed from sin." Romans 6:6-7. I know it is seems long, but with consistency a 2 and 3 year old will have no problem memorizing this in a week.
• Nails on the cross. I found a picture of Jesus nailed to the cross and had it blown up and laminated at office max. Then I velcro nails all around the edges. At each meal with will thank Jesus that he died on the cross for our sins and that by his blood we can be forgiven. After they say their prayer of thanks they can stick a nail of the cross. At first, I thought, this might be too scary for my kids, but it wasn't. They understand that men hurt Jesus and that happens when people don't know the love of Christ. They can understand the pain of Christ and feel sorrow about his death even at a young age.

If you can do one thing with your kids this week to teach them what Easter is really about it will be the groundwork for helping them understand how much Jesus loves them and that they need him in their lives. They are not too young. They love the stories and they will be little evangelists for Christ as they tell others!