EASTER — ARE YOU READY?

Christmas takes a lot of preparation. Decorate the whole house..inside and out. Shopping can be a real hassle. Next comes a trip to the grocery store to get supplies to make cookies, candy, and plum pudding. Followed by another trip to purchase supplies for Christmas dinner!!! Then it is all done in reverse. Dinner is over and the kitchen has to be cleaned. Leftover sweets are boxed up. Wrapping paper is put back in the corner of the closet. And, with a deep sigh, the taking down of the decorations …inside and out.. begins.

Yes, Christmas takes a lot of preparation. Easter on the other hand is easy. Set out an Easter bunny. Color a few eggs. Buy a new outfit. Stick the ham in the oven. And, after Easter, put the bunny away. 

Or is there more to it?

We want to celebrate Christmas. We picture Mary peacefully riding that donkey. Angels and heavenly hosts singing. Shepherds heading to the stable. Hey, who doesn’t want to see a new baby? Yes, we want to celebrate Christmas and we want to cherish the birth of Jesus from the moment the angel tells Mary that she is blessed. But Easter is different. 

We want to picture Jesus riding the colt and hear the shouts of Hosanna. We want to picture Jesus breaking the bread and holding the cup. We want to celebrate a risen Savior. We want to skip over the other parts. We do not want to think of Jesus standing condemned. We do not want to picture Jesus being beaten and forced to carry the Cross. We do not want to witness Jesus hanging on the Cross. We do not want to see him die. We do not want to watch as he is put into the tomb. We want to skip over those parts. 

But we cannot skip those parts because they are the Easter Story!!! Those parts are our salvation. Those parts are our hope. Jesus took our sins. And then Jesus gave us the way to have eternal life.

Easter asks a question: Are you ready? 

Easter asks a question that only you can answer: Do you know the way?

Get ready for Easter. Set out the bunny. Color a few eggs. Buy a new outfit. Put the ham in the oven. 

But don’t forget. You have two questions to answer: Are you ready and do you know the way?

 HOW CAN YOU NOT

Driving to an appointment, I heard the song, How Can You Not, by Leanna Crawford.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70JD5YTemJc

Part of the lyrics are:

I see the sun rise

…a million stars

…hear the birds

How can you not see God

In every little thing, in every little moment?

I have often wondered how anyone can look around and not realize this world was created by a loving God.  As the song states, we see God in the sunrise, the stars, and when we hear a bird.  Although, I think the bird singing at 5:00 AM is the devil trying to annoy me.

Often, we see something over and over until we no longer see it as a gift from God.  We walk by a tree or a rose bush or a stream and only see a tree, a rose, or flowing water. 

It is the chorus that got my attention.  IN EVERY LITTLE THING!  IN EVERY LITTLE MOMENT!  And isn’t that where we see God?  The little things that aren’t so little and the little moments that last a lifetime.

I remember the first time I felt a baby kick.  I swear that baby was trying to kick its way out.  (It was a boy, but back then you had to wait and see what popped out.)  It was such a normal thing when the little hand of a baby grasped my finger.  That first kick and the feel of a baby’s hand holding mine may be normal, everyday happenings, but they are not little things!  They are in my heart forever. 

The second pregnancy did not hold the wonder of the first.  I knew what was going to happen and I waited for the first kick.  Except the kick never came.  This baby was doing hands to feet exercises.  This time the morning sickness came when I got home from work and started to fix supper.  But then we met her and looked into her eyes and held her.  Normal, everyday happenings, but these were not a little thing.  And once again I saw God.

Over the years, I have found God in the so many little moments.  I remember God being present in a little church, when I turned down the aisle and saw Bill.  I remember the first time I saw the ocean, the Rocky Mountains, eating an orange right off the tree, and delivering a calf.  I can close my eyes and see my grandmother’s home and trying to read the Bible to her when she no longer could read. 

At the time, many things seem like part of life.  Nothing special.  Nothing unusual.  Just normal day to day stuff.  UNTIL we realize God is in every little thing, in every little moment.

Psalm 104 has 35 verses for you to read.  The cliff notes:

• God uses light, the heavens, water, clouds, wind, and flames
• God set the earth on its foundation and made springs … grass … trees … high mountains …the moon … birds and animals … the sun … the sea teaming with creatures … man
• We will sing to the LORD … praise … meditate …rejoice

God is all around us.  God is in every little thing, in every little moment.  How can you not see God?

And, sadly, way too many people miss Him.

A HOTEL FOR BOOK LOVERS

At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book – that string of confused, alien ciphers – shivered into meaning.  Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened.  You became, irrevocably, a reader.  Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading.

I love to read and remember the books, with blue covers, on the shelves of the middle school library.  I started with the first one and read through the series of biographies.  I flew with Amelia Earhart, researched with Madam Curie, and blazed a trail with Daniel Boone.  Agatha Christie taught me detective skills and Harry Potter ignited my imagination.  Books have taken me to countries I will never visit.  I can have one book beside the bed, one beside the couch, and read one while cooking.  And keep each story straight.  Yes, I love to read.

My sister, also an avid reader, said, “It is too bad we cannot find a hotel which caters to readers.  Instead of sitting beside a pool, we could find a cozy nook….and have trays of cheese, crackers, and fancy sandwiches quietly delivered to our nook….and of course glasses of wine.  Now, that would be a vacation!”

This got me to wondering if there are hotels like this and off to google I went.  There are hotels which cater to book lovers!  The ones I found would require boarding a plane and having a passport.  But, I was determined!  Surely I had missed something.  And there it was.  Just what I was looking for:  The Bookshop Hotel.

The website drew me in.  Located in a small town.  In a really old building.  With nooks and comfortable chairs.  Every afternoon at 12:30, there is a book reading, on the green,.  Still no address!  What website would not have an address and phone number!  Talk about poor marketing!  Then I saw a link to their Facebook page.  Surely, the information would be found there. 

The Bookshop Hotel page was full of pictures of the quaint houses scattered around Lily Hollow.  Finally, the name of the town.  Maybe this was a test.  You had to follow leads, with true determination, to find booking information.  Only then would you be considered a true lover of books and worthy of a stay.

I searched and saw the names of many books:  The River of No Return, The Fifth Avenue Story Society, Ink and Bone, A Place to Hang the Moon, The Adventures of Mr. Toad, Peter and Wendy, and on, and on, and on.  Was I ever going to find an address?

The answer is no.  You see, I was searching so hard for a hotel that catered to book lovers that I failed to detect one small detail – Agatha Christie would not be proud of me – The Bookshop Hotel is NOT a hotel.  It is a BOOK!!!  A book now on my Kindle.

There is a lesson here.  When searching for something, be sure of where the search is leading you.  Are you headed to a place of fiction or a place of reality?

While you ponder that last sentence, I will be reading a book.  A book titled The Bookshop Hotel.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I have not done random thoughts lately, so here goes –

I love to work jigsaw puzzles, but I wonder about something.  Exactly what prompted someone to look at a picture and decide to cut it into pieces so they could put the pieces back together? 

And what parent, of a very bored child, decided to put words into all sorts of straight lines, diagonal lines, upside down, and backwards, filling in all the blank spaces with odd letters, and calling it word search.  Then they handed it to their very bored child and said, “Here.  Find this list of words.”  Of course, that idea has resulted in their becoming rich by putting them in books and online.  Why is it always someone else that comes up with a marketable idea?  Why didn’t I get uncomfortable, at a little league game, and create a chair-in-a-bag?

Thinking about games – Why did they call the game SORRY?  Admit it.  No one is every sorry when they send someone back to home.

A morning without coffee is a morning you would not want to spend with me.  The sunshine is beautiful today.  Lunch with friends is time well spent.  Even when that friend reminds me about getting stopped for speeding, and ……..

I enjoy quiet time, but sometimes quiet can be very loud.

There is still snow on the ground and it was very cold the other morning when I saw a robin.  I wonder if the robin thought, “Did I look at the calendar wrong?”

How am I officially the shortest person in our family?  I still get teased that, after buying a new mattress (much ticker than a mattress used to be), I had three inches cut off the legs of the bed.  If you are shaking your head and thinking I am stretching the truth, I am telling the whole truth!

I love to read, but if the book hasn’t hooked me the end of the first chapter (sometimes by the end of the second page) I am done.  It goes back.

And the amount of work I get done depends on how good a book is or how many pieces are left in a puzzle.

That brings me back to the beginning:  jigsaw puzzles.  Which makes me think of reading the Bible.  Sometimes it seems like a jigsaw puzzle.  How do the pieces/stories fit together?  Where do I find answers?  Why did they use that word?  When would the disciples finally understand?  Who is Crispus?  (General index, random pick, with eyes closed.) 

Reading the Bible is like working a jigsaw puzzle.  As you read, you understand how one story fits with other stories.  BUT, unlike a jigsaw puzzle which eventually comes together, reading the Bible is an unending journey.  A journey worth taking and you might even find Crispus. (Hint:  Acts 18:8)