Easter Eggs
At my house my kids start hunting plastic Easter eggs a few weeks ahead of time. It is serious business. Whitney and I as the referees of the house must keep vigilant eyes for effective stiff arms and tripping. All illegal tactics at least until they get older. It is all practice for the big event on Easter of course. This year they will have a larger amount of competition as we will get together with their Shoals cousins. Seems like they’ve been in training for a couple of years now.
There are several reasons to celebrate Easter. First and foremost the resurrection of Jesus Christ. My 40th birthday falls on the weekend this year. Back in 2017 during the last few hours of Easter and into the next day we were introduced to our future adopted children. They were dropped off by DCS in their hospital gowns because of the barrage of medical checkups they’d received throughout the day. My son was asleep in his carseat and my daughter was clinging to the older gentlemen who had been assigned to take care of them through the process of finding a home. I remember that man looking like a whooped pup. You could tell it had been a long day. That was the first time the realization hit me that we were in over our head. What had I gotten myself into? I didn’t have long to contemplate the question because they handed us a plastic Wal-mart bag. The wrinkled Wal-mart bag contained all of the kid’s earthly belongings. If my memory serves me correctly there were a few sippy cups, a “Mater” wind up car and a musical toy that I probably enjoyed too much. Also included in the bag were a few Easter eggs. It doesn’t take much to remind me of that day but when I see those little plastic Easter eggs it hits me. The items of those Wal-Mart sacks, the memory of those sad little hospital gowns and my little girl clinging to a complete stranger for comfort breaks my heart. They had so little to give but so much the world had already taken from them. The next few days would reveal so much about me as a person. Those days and the days to come continue to reveal what little I have to offer God in return for what he did and is doing. In comparison to what he has my offering is less than the contents of those little Wal-Mart bags. The contents of those meager bags did not make those kids more or less loved. It wasn’t about what they brought with them to my house. We wanted them here regardless of their belongings or what they had to offer. I’m reminded of Jesus statement in Matthew 7:11 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” The point is that life got harder with these young ones and there were times that we didn’t know if our house was the best place for them. God is not overwhelmed with you. He wants you and all of your Wal-Mart bags of struggle no matter how big. It isn’t about what you have to offer. It is about how much he wants you (John 3:16).
Those plastic eggs represented a normal day for so many. A normal day for my kids that the full details I may never know. A “normal day” that changed their lives and mine forever. To change the famous Forrest Gump statement “Life is like a Wal-Mart sack full of Easter Eggs. You never know what you’re gonna get.” There was a normal day a few thousand years ago that changed the lives of many living at the time and the lives of future generations. Whitney and I became foster parents to hopefully change the cycle for some kids and maybe their parents. Jesus impacted all future generations. The world changed that day in Jerusalem. It changed certainly for believers but also unbelievers. Christianity with all of its human problems and shortcomings continues to impact the world in positive ways. Jesus came to establish the Way, expose the evil and make us righteous. He sought the lost. He healed the physical and spiritual sick. May we seek the same goals with the fervor of my kids seeking Easter Eggs but with much more politeness. No stiff arms or tripping for Jesus!
Travis