Easter...A Little Differently from How I Imagined It

So, yes, it is Easter. Happy Easter, Everyone! :)

I know some people squabble over the name of this holiday (Should it be called "Resurrection Sunday" or should it be called "Easter," which is also the name of a pagan god?) or even whether or not they should actually celebrate Easter. However, I have a hard time believing that there is a very large percentage of the population that thinks of a pagan god when I say "Happy Easter!" The greater danger is that they will think of bunnies and eggs! As with most Christian holidays, the world has found reason to celebrate Easter as well...even if it is something as silly as a bunny that can lay eggs! Although it saddens me that the meaning our special holiday has been so trivialized, I cannot be surprised that the world has done this. After all, they are not regenerated as I have been. What do the cross and the resurrection mean to them? But to me, when I think of Easter, the resurrection is the first thing that pops into my head. I am sure that I can credit that to my Christian upbringing! ;) The bunnies and eggs are like cute childish peripherals...like Christmas trees at Christmas, they bear no real meaning to me but only present good ideas for activities and crafts.

So my big plans for celebrating Easter this year were not really too elaborate. I spent time this week (as has been my tradition for the last few years) reading the events of the Holy Week from the Gospels. Today I wrapped up the week by reading I Corinthians 15. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! My faith is not in vain; the resurrection of the dead is true, and I will rise again one day as Christ did! Christ has conquered death and sin! It is for this reason that we do celebrate this holiday by our special traditions. I know that at church today they will be observing the Lord's Supper and singing all of the wonderful hymns commemorating Christ's death and resurrection.

But God saw fit to keep us home today. Jordan woke up with the flu this morning. How disappointing! Not that I should ever want to miss church, but I must confess that the thought crossed my mind, "Why this Sunday? Why couldn't he have been sick last Sunday or something?!" I wonder if that is very wicked to discriminate amongst the Sundays? So, here I am. We should be about ready to head out the door right now, but instead, I am in lounge pants and a tank top, no makeup, and my hair is still wet from my shower. My stomach is growling, but I am not sure if I should eat...since Jordan is sick, it seems almost inevitable that I will be sick as well. Per tradition, I had picked out last night what dress I was going to wear today. (Easter is always the first day of the year to wear a short-sleeved dress and white shoes!) I even painted my nails last night! Also, since our church wasn't going to do a breakfast or anything like that this morning, I got up early to make us some muffins to eat warm out of the oven. Thankfully, I found out Jordan was sick before I actually made the muffins. However, I did get all the ingredients out last night and laid out the utensils I would need in order to expedite the process of making the muffins this morning. So, I guess I'll have to put that all away for another time. I need to take care of my poor sick boy today. Hopefully this will be a quick bug and he can be back to his old self again soon!

It looks like we will be spending a very quiet, low-key Easter Sunday. I do wish we could be with our church family today, singing the resurrection hymns and hearing the old story of Jesus and His love. So, from the quiet of our home, I wanted to reach out to my family and friends in the blogosphere and say, "He is risen!" and imagine you echoing back, "He is risen indeed!"