This weekend we dyed eggs and had an egg hunt. No, we don't have our holidays mixed up! We feel like Easter is a very important time to remember, give thanks, study, and meditate on the burden Christ bore for us. We feel that too often, this gets overshadowed by pretend bunnies and brightly colored eggs. Even in the actions of the most well meaning parents, the focus of Jesus and his resurrection can be limited to the church service on Sunday morning and prayer before a meal by their children. Many parents try to ride the fence and celebrate both because they don't want their little ones to miss out on all the fun. But looking at it from a child's perspective, they are given a choice on what will consume their thoughts for that day. What do you think will win? Unfortunately but naturally, the egg hunt will. Sure, this child may be able to recite to you just how everything unfolded and maybe even be able to throw out a few bible verses, too. And when asked what Easter is about, they will inevitably say, "Jesus!", and we think that's great. But to most of these children, the highlight and sole purpose for their day will be the fun and games surrounding an egg-laying bunny rabbit.
This has not been an easy concept for Kevin and me to swallow. My side of the family looks forward to a huge Easter celebration that includes the adults in the hunt for over 500 eggs. Besides, we have really fond memories of hunting eggs when we were kids. But we also have the realization that we didn't have a clue as to the severity of this day until the last couple of years. Through all of this we realized it's not the egg hunting we have a problem with, it's the fact that the egg hunt takes away from where our focus, even as adults, should be during that time. So, why not have an egg hunt later in the year? This way we're not depriving the kids of something that is so fun, but we're keeping our thoughts sincere in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Easter.
In the past few years, we've really been able to dodge the bullet because our kids we small enough that they didn't really miss anything. But this year, there was no getting around it with Ava. So, we gave her our explanation, and promised to dye and hunt eggs later in the year. This was their first egg hunt ever and they had so much fun! We had 18 eggs, but next time I might add a few dozen more! Eli so gently placed his eggs in the dye, his chubby little fingers making sure to balance the egg on his spoon. It was a definite success! We'll be sure to try it again soon.
This has not been an easy concept for Kevin and me to swallow. My side of the family looks forward to a huge Easter celebration that includes the adults in the hunt for over 500 eggs. Besides, we have really fond memories of hunting eggs when we were kids. But we also have the realization that we didn't have a clue as to the severity of this day until the last couple of years. Through all of this we realized it's not the egg hunting we have a problem with, it's the fact that the egg hunt takes away from where our focus, even as adults, should be during that time. So, why not have an egg hunt later in the year? This way we're not depriving the kids of something that is so fun, but we're keeping our thoughts sincere in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Easter.
In the past few years, we've really been able to dodge the bullet because our kids we small enough that they didn't really miss anything. But this year, there was no getting around it with Ava. So, we gave her our explanation, and promised to dye and hunt eggs later in the year. This was their first egg hunt ever and they had so much fun! We had 18 eggs, but next time I might add a few dozen more! Eli so gently placed his eggs in the dye, his chubby little fingers making sure to balance the egg on his spoon. It was a definite success! We'll be sure to try it again soon.
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