Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This year looks so different than our usual family Easters. As I was reflecting on Easter’s past, I thought I’d share this funny little story with you…a tale of a very unfair Easter!

As a family, we traditionally have an Easter Egg hunt. This has always been such a fun event! My parents have always done such a great job with this. As I look back on Easters past, there is one that sticks out in my mind. If you ask anyone in our family what our most memorable egg hunt was, chances are, this one would be mentioned.

On this particular Easter, our family was out of town for a soccer tournament and we were staying in a hotel. On Saturday night, my sister Laura and I accompanied my mom to the grocery store to pick up some Easter goodies.

Laura was (and still is) a phenomenal soccer player and she was quite delighted to find a huge chocolate bunny all decked out in a soccer uniform! She asked my mom if she would buy it and my mom gave her a choice…she could have the bunny or she could participate in the Easter Egg hunt. It was a no-brainer for Laura…some of the eggs have money in them…of course, she chose the Easter Egg hunt.

On Sunday morning, my parents sent us out of the room so they could hide the eggs. My mom and dad like to keep things fair so they told us we could each pick 8 eggs.

My brother Rob’s eggs were two-toned (he was quite young and some of his eggs were filled with toys). Laura and I had the solid colored eggs.

When they called us back in the room, we immediately began searching. We would find an egg, shake it (the ones that made noise had candy…the silent ones were money) and decide if we wanted to take it or keep looking.

When all the eggs were found, we sat on the bed and began opening our eggs. I had more money than I’ve ever had in any other Easter Egg hunt…$32. I was pretty excited.

As Laura opened her eggs, she became quite agitated. Rather than being filled with money, her silent eggs were filled with marshmallow Peeps!

Being the wonderful sister I am, I found this to be hysterical! Don’t get me wrong, I love Peeps, but if I had the choice between Peeps and money, I’d take the money any day. You can buy a lot of Peeps for $32.

Although 20+ years have passed since that day, I still giggle whenever I see Peeps and Laura still scowls! Although my parents made every attempt to make sure the Easter Egg hunt was fair, things didn’t turn out quite that way and Laura didn’t get the “happy Easter” she was hoping for.

Easter is the culmination of all that is unfair in life…and not just because Laura only got Peeps.

Christ, who was sinless was put to death on a cross…in our place. We, who are full of sin, can be made right with God through the blood of Christ. Jesus certainly didn’t get what He deserved!

Easter is a time to celebrate that we didn’t get what we deserve! We deserve Hell, yet God sacrificed His Son so that we could go to heaven. I hope that this Easter will be a time of great celebration as you think of the sacrifice Christ made on your behalf.