Dyeing to Christ

These three are now all engaged.

Today I will be dyeing hard boiled eggs. Normally I do this on Palm Sunday, just as I have done for years and years. I enjoy this little tradition as a way to kick off Holy Week. I did it as a child with my family. I did it as a mother with Ayla and Anton. However, this year, I waited until today at Anton and Kayla's request because they want to participate. When I protested wanting to dye them last Sunday, I believe Anton's exact words were, "You'd rather dye them alone then with your son and his future wife!?" Case closed. The Paas was put away for six days.

I love to dye eggs. I love to get as many different colors of the tablets as possible. I love to draw secret designs and messages in the clear wax crayon before dunking them with the copper wire holder into the vinegar solution. I love checking them to see if they are dark enough. I love experimenting by using several colors. Then I lament a bit when there aren't any eggs left to dye. So I started a new tradition where I pull out some white cardstock so I can paint note cards with leftover egg dye. It makes the experience last longer and Daddy gets to smell vinegary drying cards all over the kitchen floor which make for excellent hand-designed correspondence throughout the year.

There will be egg hunts this day and tomorrow all over town in celebration of Easter, a name adopted from a pagan Spring celebration of various fertility goddesses like the Anglo-Saxon Ostera or Eostre or Babylonians Ishtar. The eggs were a symbol of fertility as was the frequently reproducing rabbit. So Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny aren't remotely Christian, but you'll see churches everywhere hosting egg events nonetheless. This is the reason why some churches refer to the celebration of the risen Christ is Resurrection Sunday verses Easter, even though the term has now become synonymous with it. 

While neither bunnies nor eggs - nor chocolate, baskets or peeps - have anything to do with what we're truly celebrating tomorrow, they certainly make for a fun time and if utilized to points hearts to Christ, we're cool with it. 

We decorate our houses big in green and red to celebrate the birth of Christ with Christmas trees, lights, wreaths, presents and mistletoe, so why not go all out in pastels, eggs, bunnies, chicks, baskets - and yes, bunny villages, Bradley - to celebrate His resurrection? As long as our hearts and minds are focused on the true reason for the season, have fun dyeing.

Discusson: Do you like to dye Easter eggs? What do you think of the symbols used during this holiday? What are ways you can remember what Easter is truly about?

Prayer: Lord this week has been all about you. We thank you for how you decorate Spring with beautiful flowers, and we glorify you for it. We mostly thank you for Christ in who's name we pray. Amen.