Not as Planned

I've already made it clear what I feel are the best things about Easter.  I love Easter, but it seems that this  holiday celebrating the love and power of my Savior sneaks up on me, and I never carry out all the activities that I had intended.  So this year I've made an attempt to be a bit more organized.

We made treats for our precious and lovely friends at daycare and brought our Resurrection Eggs to share for the day.

We spent an afternoon decorating eggs and cookies with friends and had an Easter egg hunt, but I forgot my camera.  Not so organized, huh?  Along with the activities, the kids gathered around as we talked about Jesus using Resurrection Eggs.

There's a theme emerging here:  Resurrection Eggs.  These twelve little eggs are opened while reading Scripture and a story about the death and resurrection of Jesus.  What a great way to prepare our hearts for the Easter celebration...or so I thought.

Last week the kids and I made a trip to the local Christian bookstore to purchase these eggs.  I was only slightly familiar with them, but I knew if they were anything like What God Wants for Christmas, this would be worth it. 

With intentions of having a sweet moment sharing the Good News of Jesus with my blessings, I opened the box upon our arrival home and got to work.  J and E sat nicely listening to the words I was reading for about eight seconds.  My plans of an organized and still moment with my children as we allowed Jesus to speak directly to our hearts went down the crapper quickly.  Before I knew it, the kids were fighting over which eggs they could open (thinning patience), hoarding the trinkets so no one else could see them (even thinner patience), and doing ninja moves (patience, what's that?). 

The last straw for me was when J proudly announced, "Hey, Mom, the donkey is drinking the wine!"  

After a good old-fashioned tantrum loss of self-control complete with yelling, we were able to finish our activity.  After it was all over, I was so disappointed that my plan didn't come together and embarrassed by my behavior.  Sigh!

Later that evening, E was playing with the eggs and "read" to her babies, "Desus died to sabe us."  And J was so excited to go through each egg and accurately recount the story and symbolism of each object to Daddy.  Clearly my sweeties were listening, just not in the traditional (impossible for a two and five-year-old) fashion (wide-eyed statues holding on to my every word) that I had imagined.  Statues holding on to my every word...statues that are two and five.  Seriously, I have a ridiculously warped sense of reality sometimes.

Anyway, after a little reflection, I realized that God used squabbling siblings, ninja moves, and a drunk ass to show me yet again that I need Jesus even during the seemingly simplest moments in my life.  (drenched heavily with sarcasm) Surprise! 

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.   John 3:17

Thank you, Jesus!