It has become a tradition in our family to have an annual egg hunt at Eastertime. Many years, we have hosted the hunt at our house, but other family members have hosted the event as well. After church on Easter, we all gather in the mid afternoon for this fun-filled occasion.
Over the years, the egg hunt has grown to include friends and neighbors. Everyone brings a dessert to share and it is quite a festive event.
One of my favorite moments is looking out at the lawn just before anyone hunts for the brightly colored plastic eggs full of candy. The green grass is dotted with blue, pink, orange, yellow, and green eggs. The children are always eager to begin, but for just a few minutes, there is a hush before everyone gets started. It always brings back memories of past Easters, times gone by, but never forgotten.
When I was a child, I never knew where my mother would place our Easter baskets. It was always a surprise! Sometimes, the basket would be right in my own room beside the bed. Sometimes, it would be in the living room next to the fireplace. Other times, it would be in a sitting room area in front of sliding glass doors that led to a porch. I can still remember the tingle of excitement as I wondered where my basket of treats would be waiting. Wondering and waiting was half the fun!
As children, we wait for Christmas with expectant hope. All the little details of dressing-up the house for Christmas become magical elements. It is no different at Eastertime. The small details matter, as if children instinctively know that it is not all about appearances. It is about getting ready for a very important event, and enjoying yourself along the way.
Children are ready to accept the blessings that God so generously bestows upon them. They want to celebrate each and every moment with expectant joy. The time of waiting is a gift as well. For children, it is time well spent. The count-down of days before Christmas or Easter is a time where kids actually dance about the house. They cannot contain themselves…there is simply too much excitement in the air to do anything else!
If you spend enough time with children over the holidays, you cannot help but feel their enthusiasm. Their joy is contagious. Before you know it, you are singing Christmas carols and eating Christmas cookies right alongside them!
Perhaps, that is why I love to see the lawn resplendent with colorful Easter eggs. It reminds me that, like children, we must first prepare our hearts to receive God’s blessings. In quiet reflection, we understand that time is elusive and cannot be captured for future use. God’s love is a very present and very powerful force in our lives at all times. God continuously chooses to imbue our lives with colorful bursts of bliss day in and day out. He encounters us wherever we are, and in the midst of whatever we are doing. He graces our lives with His own heart, one that never stops giving, stops doing, or ever gives up on us.
After the egg hunt is over, I will find random eggs that no one else found. I will find them months later in the snow, or under a pile of leaves. It is always fun to find these tiny treasures! I will find them when I least expect, and in the most unusual places.
God surprised the world on Easter. Jesus rose from the dead. The tomb was empty and Jesus was alive. Because of that, we too, have abundant life and life everlasting. If our hearts are ready to receive God’s gifts, He bestows His blessings of peace, love, and joy, daily.
God colors our lives and our world with the greatest of care. Our days upon the earth come and go, brushed with beauty, created with a master plan from the beginning of time.
We are no longer children, but we can learn from them. As we survey the fields of life, may we ready our hearts for each new day. God is there in our midst, every hour, every moment, just waiting for us to practice our dance steps. Our Heavenly Father knows every nook and cranny in the field. He knows where all the eggs are hidden. As Easter people, we rejoice in new beginnings, and celebrate the little surprises along the way…
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I hope that everyone had a good Easter! I am already collecting eggs that were not found at my house this past Sunday. I will pack them away for next year…more treasures for my attic! (I could write a whole post on attic treasures, saved items for each of our four children, Christmas decorations, long-ago things I am sure we have forgotten.) 🙂
I have fond memories from childhood of Easter egg hunts in my grandparent’s yard. My granddad seemed to enjoy placing them on low branches of trees and on top of garbage cans, or resting on the back doorknob between the doorframe. It was always a thrill to discover his creative ways to hide them from me. Looking back, it does remind me of God’s little treasures often left in the most unusual places in my life.
As I write this reply, it’s Wednesday, and the tomb is still empty.
God’s grip – Alan
Your granddad was a very good grandfather! We never forget these kindnesses of our childhood. You have given me some ideas! I think we need to get more creative with hiding our eggs. God certainly does surprise us with gifts when we least expect. I love your comment about God leaving treasures in the most unusual places. 🙂
We had a wonderful Easter! For the first time in three years, we were able to attend Easter services in person, and our daughter and grandson joined us. That in itself was special. And then we all came to my house, where we shared a meal and the grandkids had a ball hunting for Easter eggs. (Like you, I savored the moment before they started…) Easter does remind us to open our hearts to the childlike joy and wonder of God’s many gifts!
I am glad you had a wonderful Easter! The children so enjoy the egg hunts. We let the older crowd of kids hide the eggs for the little ones. This year, we had a separate egg hunt for the older kids as well…they had their own bunny trail of candy eggs and some eggs with a small dollar amount. I think the older ones had as much fun as the little kids!
That’s a great idea!
What a lovely post, Linda.
Thank you! Wishing you many blessings in this season!
Thank you for sharing your family’s Easter tradition with us, Linda! I remember dyeing Easter eggs with my mother, but they were real eggs (hardboiled), so they would not have done well outside.
My mother hid jelly beans all through the house on Easter morning. I ate a lot of them. They never made it into my basket. She put them on the window sills in groups of three and that is how I ate them! My brothers did not like the licorice ones and would leave them behind. I ate those too! I imagine that I was too full to eat any of the real eggs. 🙂 We did have the hard-boiled eggs. I don’t remember eating them on Easter morning! 🙂 (I am sure my mother put one on my plate.)
Jelly beans for breakfast! I, too, liked the licorice ones.
🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you and amen!
You are welcome…wishing you blessings today and every day!
Just delightful, Linda. Thank you.
You are welcome! I wish you blessings at Eastertime and always…
What a joy-filled post, Linda. You have reminded me of when I was a kid and so excited in anticipation of the holidays. Easter always meant new clothes to me, more than eggs or candy. Probably because our Easter bunny loved jelly beans and I do not. But I loved that Easter bonnet song and wanted hats to come back in style. And I would get a new dress and maybe even new patent leather shoes and gloves and at least one year a spring coat!
You have brought back so many memories! I do remember that we always had a hat. (I like hats too!) I also remember that we had little white gloves which I absolutely loved. It was only for Easter that we had the hat and the gloves. And yes, the white patent leather shoes!
Easter celebration over the years has just been in my heart since there has been no children in my life. But, we do now have my 6 month old great-niece to cherish and share the joys of the holidays with. Seeing her dressed for Easter was adorable, and watching her face light up with the new toys was precious. God has blessed my family with this little miracle and I look forward to all the years of joy and growth with her. Very nice post Linda and may God continue to bless you and your family.
Your great-niece sounds adorable! Families evolve and there is so much to celebrate as the years unfold! Wishing you much joy in these springtime days…Your great-niece is very blessed to have you in her life. You have always kept ‘Easter in your heart’, and that is the greatest blessing of all.
Yes, the true meaning of Easter has always been a part of me. And as for my great-niece, she is so cute. She seems really smart and ready to get her life moving at only 6 months. She’s not crawling yet but I think it will happen soon. Take care Linda.
🙂 🙂 🙂
You’re right, Linda–the joy and excitement children bring to special occasions ought to be an example to us how to celebrate God’s blessings. We also need to look for them as diligently as children hunting Easter eggs. It’s a shame when some get left behind, unseen and uncelebrated!
So much wisdom in this comment!!! Yes, God’s blessings abound wherever we look. But you are right, if we are not paying attention, we might miss an awesome gift that God has prepared for us. We are called to live in God’s peace, to celebrate the gifts at hand, to appreciate all that He has spread out before us. The world is a busy place, and we worry about so many things. We must remember daily to seek His will and live our days in the joy and wonder of Easter morning.
Linda, you are an artist with your words as you painted a beautiful Easter picture. This post came as a lovely invitation to pull out and enjoy childhood Easter memories amongst which include family meals (that always included my grandma’s deviled eggs) and the cousins Easter egg hunts where eggs could be found tucked among the blossoms of my Dad’s apple and peach trees.
Your artistry with words has certainly painted a picture of those peach and apple blossoms! It sounds so beautiful! Children so appreciate all the little details of family celebrations. How blessed we are with the generations that came before us…sharing their wisdom and kind hearts with us! They taught us all we need to know to live life to the fullest…and these are the lessons we pass on to our children and grandchildren. God is so very good to us!
He most certainly is! Have a lovely weekend:)
Christmases and Easters when I was growing up always came with some bitterness because I didn’t come from a family that loved. Hence, the traditions that we did have such as gatherings at my grandparents’ place were occasions I certainly didn’t look forwards to. I guess this is what happens when children are not welcomed and loved and cherished and enjoyed as you and your family do. all the loveliness you have detailed here, the hidden eggs, the hunts, the mirth and joy, even the jellybean~jewels your Mum tucked around for the children to find – everything absolutely sings children! How wonderful is that!!
I am so glad to say that the family I married into welcomes children with heart and soul. Because of that, the extended family gathering we have each year is a joyous one. Easter is ultimately about fulfilled hope and a love beyond words and I’m so very glad my children have grown up/are growing up knowing that.
Easter is certainly about love, the greatest love of all. God’s language is love and He speaks to us in many ways. When the extended family can celebrate in that here on earth, it is a beautiful thing. It is wonderful that you married into a family that loved unconditionally. You are very blessed, and I am so happy for you!
Beautiful, Linda. I hope you had a lovely Easter.
Thank you! We did have a lovely Easter! I hope you had a nice Easter also. 🙂
A joy-filled post full of lovely traditions! It sounds like a wonderful time for children and adults.
(I like that you saw a real rabbit, too.) 🙂
The rabbit picture was taken at an earlier time! We do have a lot of rabbits. That one was sitting right in my front yard. 🙂
I’ve only seen one here so far this year, but last summer they seemed to be everywhere.
I am sure they will soon be out and about! 🙂
🙂
aha read this post during my retreat so didn’t comment then … appreciate the sentiments expressed, those lovely tulips and especially your bunny! Finding those eggs then more later would be a real treat 🙂
I do love tulips! They are a sure sign of spring! Our weather is warm now and everything is starting to bloom…We used to have a rabbit family that lived beneath one of our large bushes. My children would sometimes bring carrots and leave them there…many moons ago!
how delightful …we had rapidly multiplying wild rabbits eating our gardens, neighbours accused me of breeding them. I suggested they didn’t require my help 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂
Awh your yearly egg hunt sounds so nice and love that it now involves neighbours as well!
It is a wonderful time! The Azaleas are all in bloom and the colorful eggs are everywhere!!! 🙂 It is great to see the little ones dressed up in their Easter outfits, so excited, hunting for their eggs.