Happy Easter (almost)

Easter slipped up on me this year. All of a sudden, I realize that the Easter stuff is going on sale at the stores. "But when is Easter....?" I wonder. Then I remember that it's in TWO days. Oh, wow. Thank goodness I didn't have to make any purchases this year. I decided against a pinstripe suit (or other dressy outfit) for Gardner this year. He had that last year, when it was okay to be a boy and be decked out in pastels (AND a velveteen cap with long bunny ears sewn into the hem)...but not this year. A simple short set will be just fine, and my pocketbook's very thankful.

I didn't even plan an Easter party, although I was itching to. I get to enjoy two visits on Sunday with both sides of our families, and that is more than enough. Time with family's more important than party planning, anyway.

I remember Easters past. The year Mom handmade our dresses...mine, hers, and my doll Pammy's. The many years I spent sneaking Easter candy in the back row of Daddy's church while he preached. I got away with it until my friend Meredith shared some of her candy cigarettes, and one of the deacons spotted the sugary "smoke" rising up towards the balcony. Oops.

I remember the egg hunts, of Emily and I racing to get to the ones we spotted, although I upheld my duty as big sister by letting her grab most of them first. I remember Dad's insanely camoflauged eggs which he secretly hid, and I do mean camoflauged (he literally painted them in camo using oil paints). Some of those, I am convinced are still there, slowly eroding away beneath the bushes in our Louisiana backyard.

I remember the way sponge rollers felt as I tried to go to sleep on Saturday nights, wondering why in the world my hair had to be curly for church the next morning when it cost me such valued sleep. (What we women do for beauty!) I remember Easter bonnets....Easter cookies.... a basket full of Peeps, marshmallow-choco bunnies, and sunflower seeds (a staple in Gravely baskets).

What I like to remember even more are the meaningful things....the carrying in of palm leaves with my friends, laying them at the front of the church, triumphant music in our ears. The vision of crosses on churches everywhere, draped with a purple cloth (and then later a shimmering white). The lyrics and beautiful, melodic stanzas of "Via de la Rosa" ingrained tightly in my memory. The indescribable way that "The Passion" brought to life the agony and the sacrifice of my Savior for my sake....it wasn't just a story. It was real. It happened. He loves me that much....

I see my son, before me every day, and I realize how much I love him. I love him enough to, yes, even give up my own life for him. Jesus loves us that much, too.

Again, something that became even more vibrantly alive to me once I became a parent.

I just love how God keeps revealing Himself in new and wonderful ways.