This was the first year that I've ever participated in Lent. It was quite the experience. Someone asked me "why.....why would you even lent? Isn't that just for Catholics?" It was a great question. I decided to participate in a 40day fast in which I gave up desserts. As Jesus took off into the wilderness for 40 days to give up food and focus on his Savior, I too hoped to give up some luxuries and focus on the up and coming Easter. It was a meaningful learning experience for me and I also decided to watch the Passion of Christ by Mel Gibson this year. It first appeared in theaters when Mia was born, but I was not able to see it. Because it's so emotional and most certainly a true stor, I have put it off for 7 years. This a year of firsts for this 36 year old. Embarassingly so but oh so good for my soul. Glad I decided to lent and watched my Savior's story on film this year.
One other first moment for us............ we decided to give each of our kids a special egg with something encouraging written inside. Because God is always doing something 'new' in our lives, we wanted to reveal to our kids what we noticed God doing 'new' in each of their lives. Paul wrote a short letter to each of the kids and put them in their eggs. Each one read the note aloud after we had dinner. It was fun to encourage our kids and focus on what God is doing new inside of their hearts and acknowledge their growth on Easter.
Of course we did have the famous egg hunts in our backyard, egg coloring, and we ate a few chocolate eggs. Paul and I hid the eggs. Kids emptied the eggs and hid them for us. Eggs were collected and hidden again and then again....... Fun to see all the 'hard' spots that they chose to hide the eggs in.
Closing up this Easter holiday, hoping to constantly remember the sacrifice made for me years before I was ever born. Hoping to remember the grace that was given to me and the unconditional love that still pours into me each day from above. Focusing on the all the new things He is doing in my heart. What new things are happening in your heart?
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