April Showers bring May Flowers. I have heard this phase my entire life. Growing up a rainy April was welcomed to get all the flowers and gardens growing. Oh, how I hated the rain because it would be too chilly to play in but too hot to be stuck on the enclosed porch. That would leave my bedroom to hide in. April was normally one of my favorite months when Easter would fall there. I Loved Easter. Easter was a special time of year. My family, of course, went to church on Easter Sunday as every other Sunday but on Easter Sunday we would all have new homemade dresses and papaw a new shirt when we could afford it. I would normally get new shoes, a hat, gloves, and a purse.
I liked Easter more than Christmas in a lot of ways. Easter morning, I would wake up to new parts of my outfit and baskets of easter candy, stuffed animals, and various other toys but so much candy. Some of my favorite memories was waking up on easter. But the hiding of eggs later in the day was what I loved the most, and that is when I hated those April Showers. My papaw would end up hiding the eggs in the house, we would leave early for church and he would hide them in church and Id look for them. Growing up on a farm with dogs and cats running free, hunting easter eggs is not always easy outside. Especially when the animals get the eggs before you can. Papaw would often forget where he put the eggs, inside and out. Once we had an egg rotten inside our piano/organ because it had slipped backward off the petal and he could not remember where he had all the eggs. Such good memories. Now people do not do a lot to celebrate easter as they did back in the day.
Fast forward to being Married. I felt so bad that the kids (nieces and nephews) did not get easter as I had, that I asked if I could oversee a family Easter, and my besties/sister-in-law jumped in to help. I did not have the money to do what I did that first easter but the fam kept having easter. I sometimes wondered if it was for me or for the kids. Fast forward to my family now, they do not believe in God and do not have the same family values. I feel like I have let God down by not celebrating his rising over the last five years. Easter has so many special memories, and I just let them slide away. However, this year Jeremy’s birthday is on Easter and I am going to try and surprise him with the observation of his birthday. I’ll probably first watch Church online and worship with my forever family. Then we will figure out about lunch. Then surprise Jeremy with his gifts and his cake.
While Easter is not as big of a deal as it use to be and has turned more “worldly”, for those of us that believe in God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit this time of year is a big deal for us. It is the time of year when we are reminded of exactly what our Father and Son went through for us. I do not know when I first realized or fully understood what God gave us in Jesus. How Jesus gave up everything even life for us. I do not know anyone that loves me that much. Jesus loves all of us that much, the Christian, the sinner, and everything in the middle, let us accept Him in our hearts forever and never have to worry again where we stand. As a little girl there were two things I did not get, how did Jesus forgive all the bad people that killed him and how was I as bad as the killers if I stole a piece of candy or told a lie? You know I was a married woman on the edge of divorce before I understood really. The pain I was enduring, did not matter how big or how small the things were they all equally hurt. I feel like Jesus just waits for us to figure out His grace and see His sacrifice and call out for Him to wrap us in His arms. While we are trying to figure it all out, he keeps calling for us. Easter is that time of year to worship and praise him for all God has given to us, and to renew our faith in him, calling out for his mercy and love.
I wonder what you the reader Easter memories are? I’d love it if you shared them in the comment section. I hope the showers of April do not drown out all the good things April can bring. Happy April, and Happy Easter.
Finding Evie 