…Like the Easter Bunny Threw Up in Here

A toy catalogue for Easter, Target? Seriously?  

I realize that Easter has gone just as mainstream as Christmas. That’s fine.  Christians can’t mark a day as special and then say that nobody else is allowed to be special that day.  Life is short.  Celebrate whenever possible! Make special days meaningful, even if your interpretation differs from the traditional meaning.  But a home/table/child that looks like the Easter Bunny threw up in here? No thanks. [i’m looking at you pottery barn.]

In the Church, we celebrate Easter as the day that Jesus’ friends went to make funeral arrangements and found his tomb empty.  That absence was more powerful than any kind of presence could have been. That absence said, for the world, that our God is bigger than death. What great news!

Even if you don’t celebrate Easter in the religious sense, it can still be a spiritual day, something worth marking in your home. There is new life all around us, especially in springtime—especially in the desert! How much do you love living here (or wherever you are)  right about now?! What a great time to share a special meal with your family, enjoy the outdoors, and share your gratitude for all the signs of life that you see around you. 

Whether you mark Easter in the traditional Christian understanding, or approach it in a more secular way, I think we all agree that the last thing any of us needs is MORE STUFF.  Stores have to make a living. So do the folks at Disney, Fisher Price, and Gymboree.  But in this season of new life and hope, I invite you to live in awareness of what they are trying to sell you. Joy. Celebration. Fullness of life. You won’t find that in a catalogue, and you can’t fit it into a frilly basket. 

I am not the meanest mother in the world. I buy candy. I buy small gifts. What I try not to do is buy a feeling, or a lifestyle, or a certain image of myself as a parent.  In this season of new life—whether it is about Jesus for you, or the growth that you see in your garden –embrace the empty space, the waiting place. Walk away from all the fake Easter grass, and there is something holy to be found in the space that remains.  After all, the absence of something can be powerful.  Some would say it can even change your life…