Why We Don't Do the Easter Bunny

My greatest desire is that one day, all of my children will come to a place of realization that they are sinners in need of a Savior and that they accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their life. My prayer is that they will receive Him at an early age without having to wade through the muck of this world first. I want them to see Jesus in my life and in their Dad's life. Sometimes, this will mean not participating in somethings, not because we want to make them feel bad or make them stick out, but because it is what we feel the Holy Spirit is calling our family to do. I want them to know without a shadow of a doubt why we treat Easter Sunday like an extra special day. Why we pick out new church outfits every year for this day in particular and why everyone is so happy on that day. I want them to know that Jesus is ALIVE and Easter is an extra special day to celebrate that! It isn't the only day we celebrate it, but it is a special day that we have set aside to remember that Jesus voluntarily gave up his place in Heaven and chose to come to this Earth and that HE CHOSE TO DIE for the sins of the whole world so that we could one day live with Him! I want them to know that God so love each of them, that He sent Jesus to die for them, because He couldn't bear to spend eternity without them. I want them to know that it didn't end there, that Jesus died, but three days later he ROSE AGAIN! That HE IS ALIVE and is waiting to come back and get His children. What a thrilling message to teach your children. How can I teach them this and truly show them how important it is to me, if I make Easter all about candy filled plastic eggs?

We have finally come to this point in our lives where we have to decide on things like the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, and the Tooth Fairy and how we will present these figures to our children. Growing up, my parents occasionally participated in these imaginary figures, but we knew it was pretend and just had fun playing the game. Let me start this off by saying, I think it is a good and healthy thing for children to have imaginations and be creative. It is wonderful for them to play pretend and dream big. I want my kids to have huge imaginations that carry them through their childhood, however, I don't want them to live in a fairy-tale land. I want to teach them the Jesus is real and alive and so much greater than any imaginary character could ever be. I also want to teach them that even though we don't "do" those things, doesn't mean other people don't as well and we need to respect their decisions.

I did a little research on the origins of a lot of our Easter traditions. Personally, I think the Easter bunny is creepy and it's weird to think about bunny laying eggs for little kids to find the next day. Just why? But is that really a good enough reason, or explanation rather, as to why we choose to abstain from participating in Easter events focused on the bunny? Probably not. We took to articles from both sides of the fence and ultimately were affirmed in our decision.

Most of the modern Easter traditions are rooted in various pagan celebrations related to the arrival of spring. The church, particularly the Catholic Church, adopted many of these rituals and attempted to use them in symbolic ways during their own celebrations. Both eggs and rabbits are associated with new life and fertility. Even in our modern idioms, "multiplying like bunnies" is obviously a hint at how productive rabbits are at reproducing. So, then there is this thing about the Easter Fire, which I had never heard of until doing this research. Apparently, it is a Catholic thing and was taken directly from pagan practices. This is where Kyle and I had to laugh. In an effort to draw in more church members, or seem more appealing to the world around them (I don't really know the real reason) these church leaders decided to start incorporating this pagan ritual into their worship of the Risen Savior. They likened the fire to the pillar of fire that held the presence of God in the desert. A bit of a stretch? Yeah, I thought so, too.

Ok, so we have eggs, bunnies, fire, the cross is obvious, now why do we do candy and gifts? Really? Do we really need a holiday as an excuse to give our children gifts or treats? It frustrates me that commercialism has taken over this time to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and shoved material things down our throats. Our children are growing up in a culture that tells them they need more and more and more to be happy. They are told they deserve and should get whatever they want, whenever they want. I do not agree with this! I want my children to grow up with a Biblical worldview and to be Heaven minded. This doesn't mean I can't give my kids gifts, but I don't need an Easter bunny to tell me its ok, or to take the credit.

I digress. So where did the dyed eggs come from? What about eggs? Basically, it has to do with Lent. In the early Catholic Church, a lot of people would give up eggs for Lent so eggs were eaten on Easter and after. There was also something about dyeing the eggs red to represent them being covered by the blood of Christ. The giving of gifts was something I couldn't really find a historical basis in, other than the eggs of course. I truly believe gifts at Easter is a part of the commercialism of our culture. Moving on to the good part!

What is Easter all about?

Yes, I've seen the sweet little analogies about the eggs representing the surprise when Jesus wasn't in the tomb, but do you honestly think your 2, 3, 4, or 5 year old is going to be thinking about Jesus' resurrection when they open their eggs to find candy and cheap China-made toys inside? Mine sure won't. This is where my biggest issue with gifts and candy on Easter morning lies. Should Easter be another Christmas where kids run downstairs to look at all the gifts some fictitious character brought them? Should that be their focus? In our house, the answer is no. We don't want our kids to (a) expect a gift at every holiday, (b) lose sight of why we are really celebrating Easter, (c) turn into selfish, entitled, and ungrateful little brats. Ok, maybe that last one was a little harsh, but seriously. I want my kids to learn how to be grateful givers more than anxious receivers. I want them to not always expect to get get get at every big occasion in life. When a gift is given to them, I want to teach them how to genuinely say thank you to the person who gifted them, regardless of the size, cost, amount or quality of the gift. Now, how can I do that if their gift is from the Easter bunny? I love to be able to give my boys treats and gifts any day of the year, just because I love them, not because the bunny is making me.

I have even struggled with the idea of giving my kids gifts at all on Easter. Why do we need to do gifts? That's not what Easter is all about. I don't want their focus to be on material things they received, but rather the gift of salvation. Often time we get so wrapped up in the giving or presenting of symbolic things, that we lose focus on the truth being symbolized.

As usually happens in moments like these, I called my best friend and she gave me a really good piece of advise. She said, make the gift about Jesus. Whether it's a Bible, or a Jesus storybook, or something a simple of a cross pin or necklace. Don't make it about a big basket stuffed with candy and toys they don't need, point them to Christ.

I love this and I'm so thankful for her wisdom and counsel. I love the freedom Kyle and I have in making this decision for our family. We can decide year to year if it is something we want to do. We are by no means condemning gift giving on Easter, nor would we discourage or forbid our parents from doing something with their grandchildren for Easter, but we prefer the focus on Easter morning to be on Jesus. For the past several years, we have done Easter egg hunts at my in-laws (yes, all of us adults still participate) after lunch and it is a blast! We love this and I love when our boys get to do fun things like this, but it's not the end of the world if the egg hunt doesn't happen or if we don't get candy.

In my reading, I came across a great perspective on all this and really appreciated the clarification. Who created all of the things the world uses to celebrate Easter? Did the pagans, or God? Well, God did. So, just because the pagans used them means God can't be glorified through them? No. The truth is Satan is the father of lies and takes what is beautiful and pure about God's creation and twists it to his own purpose. So, while having an Easter egg hunt or dyeing eggs or giving gifts isn't inherently wrong, is it stealing the focus from our Savoir on Easter? Yes and this is why we choose to not participate in some of these types of events, but can still have fun doing activities that don't distract from the reason we celebrate.

I hope this hasn't been too much of a rant, but rather an encouragement to step back and make sure Jesus is the focus of your Easter celebrations. If it is, then continue and celebrate that Jesus is alive in whatever way the Holy Spirit is leading your family! This year, the boys were not old enough to really care about gifts, so we got a book about Easter. Here are a few that we have or ones that I have heard good things about. If you are looking for a good book to get your kids for Easter or any other time, I would highly recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible. It is amazing!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend this year with our families. We spent time with Kyle's family on Friday and my family on Sunday after church. Most of all, we got to celebrate the fact that Jesus is ALIVE!!

https://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears-Easter-Story-Stickers/dp/0310720877/ref=zg_bs_3076_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BQCGZGSTSAV6YR1BSTGS

https://www.amazon.com/Gave-Easter-Lisa-Tawn-Bergren/dp/0307730727/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0307730727&pd_rd_r=JSAVM8JHG0X21985J13M&pd_rd_w=KMXSY&pd_rd_wg=hhJQ0&psc=1&refRID=JSAVM8JHG0X21985J13M

https://www.amazon.com/Easter-Story-Patricia-Pingry/dp/0824955315/ref=pd_sim_14_15?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0824955315&pd_rd_r=N6EYCW6RGMNQ1YZ76PZV&pd_rd_w=38jFS&pd_rd_wg=9LMwt&psc=1&refRID=N6EYCW6RGMNQ1YZ76PZV

https://www.amazon.com/What-Easter-Michelle-Medlock-Adams/dp/0824918789/ref=pd_sim_14_12?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0824918789&pd_rd_r=T7GGNC5MDXBK05DG2T9A&pd_rd_w=AaKIM&pd_rd_wg=tWne8&psc=1&refRID=T7GGNC5MDXBK05DG2T9A

His Grace Abounds

This week God has given me a new awareness of just how awful this world is and how there is no hope without Christ. For the first time in my life, I can see just how much devastation and heartache comes from living in this fallen world. While it has always been there, my little bubble has been relatively untouched until this past year and my heart has never been grieved as much as it has been this week. There has been too much loss and too much heartbreak. How can any good come from this?

How can good come from sickness and death? How can good come from families being torn apart and friendships lost? How can good come from people, who claim Christ, hatefully turning on one another? Where is the good in any of it?

Romans 8:28 tells us,

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

and Ecclesiastes 3:11 says,

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

But what purpose can there be in such loss? I have learned that in life there are questions that our finite minds can not answer. They are called God-questions. They are questions that we may never have the answer to because He, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge has been gracious enough to exclude us from knowing all of His work. He has given us a heart for eternity and asks that we trust Him. While this doesn't diminish the pain, it gives use hope. It reminds us the promise found in Jeremiah 29:11,

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Most of last year and the beginning of this year have been a season of deep waters for me. While we have had wonderful things happen in our family, I've also seen lives turned upside down, families torn apart, children lost, and friendships destroyed. I've seen the enemy take hold of peoples' lives and turn them against anyone who would point them to the Lord. I've walked dark roads alongside my dearest friends. I have waded through my own waters of doubt, confusion, and despair. But God! Praise Jesus I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13) God has shown himself faithful through it all. There hasn't been a single moment when God left. He has been with me through it all and He has shown His goodness through even the darkest times.

This time last year, my dear friend grieved the loss of child she never even got to hold. I cried with her as we grieved the loss of someone neither of us would ever know on this side of heaven. She never even got to tell me she was pregnant until it was too late. Later in the year, her family endured struggles that neither of us could have ever imagined and yet Her faith and trust in the Lord saw her through. Her faith through this loss has been a testimony to me of God's amazing grace. How can He use life's greatest trials and hardships, the result of living in a fallen world, for His glory and our good? Because He is God!

A few months later, our whole world was rocked as our church went through a devastating split. With all of the obstacles that come with a church split, it was very difficult to see God in anything. My group of peers that I held so dear were practically gone. The spirit of unforgiveness knocking on my heart door constantly as the enemy tried to tear down as much as he could on his way out. And Yet, He abounds. When the carnage of sin is all around us, His grace only increases. I have seen and known this grace over the past year. As friends have experienced loss and walked through deep valleys and rough storms, God has shown Himself faithful and been glorified through all. In the aftermath of devastation, I have seen relationships beginning again that I thought were lost forever. I have seen God raise beauty from ashes and create new life. I have seen how God uses all things to work for our good and His glory.

John 16:33: "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

This week, a friend, someone I love, lost her baby. Her precious little girl was only a month younger than my twins. I have been sick with heartache since I heard the news and have questioned God's purpose in this tragedy. Why? Why her? Why did she have to be taken? Why so soon? The most difficult part for me to accept is that I will never know the answers to these questions, because they are God-questions. But, I have hope, because I know that He is good. Even though it is hard to see how good will be possible in such a horrible circumstance, faith drives me to believe that God is good and He will be glorified and that "nothing is impossible with God."(Luke 1:37) Faith doesn't lessen the pain of loss or minimize the grief, but it brings the light of hope and truth to the darkest of places. We know that one day, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."(Revelation 21:3) For now I cling to this. I cling to the love of my Savoir and the truth of His Word, because without Him, I am nothing.

Praying Scriptures Over Your Kids

I love to listen to this podcast called God Centered Mom. If you don't already listen, or are looking for some real encouragement and accountability from fellow women of faith, I strongly encourage you to check this out. I discovered Heather's podcast back in December 2016 and I have loved it every since! I have heard so many things that have changed my walk with the Lord and started conversations with my husband that otherwise I wouldn't have known how to start. I love that this is a place I can go to hear from Godly women about their journey with Him and with their families. Even if you aren't a mom yet, this is an amazing resource for Godly info and encouragement.

A recent episode featured author, Jodie Berndt. Her books, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, Praying the Scriptures for Your Teenagers, and Praying the Scripture for Your Adult Children are packed with stories followed by scriptures to practically pray over your children. I look forward to getting her book this month, but in the meantime I have been using the verses she talked about on the show, and looking for some of my own. I want to apply this practice not only to my kids, but to my husband, my family, my friends, and the world.

Recently in Sunday School we talked about the power of prayer and the model of prayer Jesus left for us in His Word. He also instructed us how not to pray, 

"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words." [Matthew 6:7 NKJV]

The Holy Spirit has recently convicted me of having a shallow prayer life and like the heathens, vainly repeating the same phrases as if they had power or if I ask enough times, God will make it happen. The encouragement I found in Jodie's episode was to pray with the power of God's Word. What better words to put in our hearts and minds so that we can pray them over our children and families and especially the world? Two verses in particular stuck out to me as a good place for me to start. [Psalm 121:7-8 and Acts 26:18.]

One of my biggest fears in life is something terrible happening to my children. Every night as I'm getting ready for bed I go in and check on my precious boys and pray that God would keep them safe and healthy. I convince myself that if I ask God to grow them into strong men that have a passion for Him, that those words somehow protect them into adulthood and that if I pray for that, God has some sort of obligation to not let any harm come to them. I see and understand the error in my thought process there, but isn't it sad how Satan uses fear to so twist our perspective on the power of God? How are my vain repetitions going to stop God if his plan is to call my children home? (The new song by Zach Williams has been on my mind a lot lately.)

This is where another verse Jodie mentioned comes to mind, and this is probably the first one I need to memorize. Philippians 2:13 says that God is the one that works through me (and my kids, and my spouse, and my family) in order to fulfill his purpose as He wills it. At first, Satan tries to use this verse to scare me, but then through Jesus, it gives me peace. How am I more powerful than God in keeping my children safe? Who am I to demand that God keep them right where they are if He has a greater purpose for their lives? After all, Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has a plan and it isn't for evil, but for our welfare. And Jeremiah 1:5 says that before we were even a though in our mother's heart or a twinkle in our daddy's eye, He, God, the creator of the universe, knew me and set me apart for a purpose. He knew each of my children and consecrated them for His purpose. That word consecrate is 'qadash' in Hebrew and it means to sanctify, to prepare and to dedicate.

A few months ago we had the privilege of dedicating all three of our boys to the Lord in front of our church family. As we wrestled all three of them and my arms slowly started to fall asleep from holding the twins, it was hard to focus on the words our pastor spoke to us. AS I reflect on verses like Jeremiah 1:5 I see more and more what my call as a Christian mother is and am thankful for the symbolic gesture of a baby dedication. Now, a baby dedication does not save my children, but rather is a public profession of Kyle and I's commitment to raise our children under God's Word. God has said that He has set apart my boys before the beginning of time. Who am I to question that He loves them and has a plan for them?

This is such a difficult concept to grasp sometimes because we as Moms have such a strong maternal pull to guard and protect our children. I mean I am a Mama bear right along the rest of them, but I have learned day by day and am still learning how to surrender my children to the Lord. When I was pregnant with the twins and we didn't know if they were Mono/Mono or Mono/Di, I remember just sobbing to my best friend over the phone because I had allowed my self to be overcome with fear for my children. I didn't know if they would be healthy, or even survive. We didn't find out we were having twins until almost 20 weeks and I was terrified that something would go wrong and I could do nothing about it. I see now, that it was God's grace that hid little Asher-man until our anatomy scan so that I wouldn't be so overcome with worry the entire pregnancy. It was during that time, that God started drawing me nearer to Him to trust Him with my children and to give Him my everything. Sometimes, it was a daily or hourly surrender, but the peace of God flooded my soul when I did surrender to Him.

I am thankful that God put in Jodie's heart to record these verses and bit of encouragement for Moms like me who need help getting started. The verse I now pray over my boys at night reads, "The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." – Psalm 121:7-8. I love the way to make it personal, there is such power in the Word of God. It goes something like this,

Lord, keep Raylen, Leland, and Asher from all harm-- watch over them; watch over them and keep them wherever to go.

When I am afraid and worried about my kids and their future, I remember this verse: Jeremiah 29:11.

God, You know the plans You have for Ralyen, Leland, and Asher. You have declared it! Your plans are good, not evil. Your plans are to give them a future and a hope.

The other verse Jodie mentioned that is now on an index card is a prayer for my children's salvation. [Acts 26:18]

Jesus, Open Raylen, Leland, and Asher's eyes. Turn them from darkness to light. Turn them from Satan to God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and have a place among those who are sanctified by faith in You.

Is a prayer that says, "God keep them safe and save them" any less effective than praying these desires through scriptures? No, I don't think so. But, this all goes back to what Jesus said about empty prayers and vain repetitions. For me, I have found finding scriptures to pray over my family have put into words the desire of my heart in a way I couldn't express before. It also keeps my desires in line with God's will. How can I pray HIS WORDS and not be praying HIS WILL? I have to acknowledge that in all of these things, His will be done.

I don't really know how else to wrap this up other than to say thank you and I hope this has brought you some encouragement. And here is a picture of our little monkeys at the baby dedication. <3