When our kids were younger, we would fill and hide and gather and open endless plastic Easter eggs. They were delighted, and it was a fun tradition. To keep Easter Sunday as a holier and sacred day, these festivites were held on Saturday, separating out “fun Easter” and “real Easter.”
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Our kids are older now, but still enjoy the fun of “fun Easter.” They carefully decorate boiled eggs and they enjoy hunting for little treats and treasures.
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This year was a little different. I purchased one egg for each of the five children at home with us. One. That’s it. I then cautiously hid each child’s egg inside something that belonged to them: inside the pocket of a coat, inside an oboe case, inside a shoe, inside their sock drawer. On Saturday evening, I explained that each of them had one egg to seek for and that it would be found in a personal belonging. They were excited to search for their special surprise meant just for them and they were delighted when they found them.
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While this began as a minimalistic way to still have the fun so fondly remembered of years gone by, I considered the deeper significance.
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We don’t have to compete for Christ’s gift of the atonement in our lives. We don’t have to line up and scramble through the crowds in an attempt to get our fair share. We don’t have to worry about ending up with a bare basket while other baskets are overflowing with colorful eggs. We don’t have to worry that we will somehow miss out if we are slower or even fall down in the quest for our treasure.
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He offers His precious gift of reconciliation, renewal, love, and peace to all. It is absolutely personalized and positively individual. It is already set aside in a special place meant for you and me. No matter how long it takes us. It is waiting there for us to seek it and claim it and delight in it.
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“And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.” {Ether 12:41}
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Photo by Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash