I will always remember Easter morning from last year.
I had a great plan….
I got up early on Easter morning
to cook my family some fun, homemade
blueberry pancakes in the shapes of Easter eggs, chicks, and bunnies.
The table was set….and ready for fun.
Everyone’s lovely new clothes were waiting to be donned.
It was going to be a great day.
I started cooking the pancakes….
and it just wasn’t working.
I had beheaded bunnies, chicks with no body, and
completely destroyed Easter eggs.
The eggs burned while I was trying to get the pancakes
working….I wondered if I could convince my family
that it was a new, cutting-edge dish….charcoal eggs???.
I was determined to have fun-shaped pancakes….
but we ended up with plain, round ones.
How I got blueberry batter
in my eyelashes, I’m not sure.
I forgot to cook the bacon.
{But the table still looked really pretty.}
We always get new outfits for Easter…..
we’ve done this since our children were small.
Not to impress anyone; but to be an outward expression
of what Easter stands for: Brand New Life.
Those lovely new duds were all hanging and ready.
My youngest daughter just started wearing mascara….
it’s a learned skill to handle, ya know.
And the make-up remover?
Well, it ended up all over her brand new dress.
And her nails that were chipped and looking
like a mechanic from fun in the yard?
Due to the pancakes…we didn’t get to re-paint them.
My other daughter’s new dress just wasn’t working
with the camisole that wouldn’t stay up….
I hoisted it up with twine and hair barrettes in the back.
She was freezing and put on leggings with her new
dress that had ketchup stains on the knee. ?????
{How does ketchup get on your knees?}
And then donned her winter wool coat.
I love the new nail polish I found this past week
and had painted my toes and fingernails with it.
It will look gorgeous with a tan…..
but with winter white skin?
Yeah, well, I looked like the crypt-keeper.
We’ve been rearranging closets and cleaning some areas
out around here…so somehow all the sheets and blankets
have ended up in my closet….on top of my shoes. ???
I couldn’t find my shoes for church…you know, the ones that
were perfect with my new outfit.
It was at this point that my prayers turned to:
“Really, God? Really???!!”
We finally made it to the car and headed to church.
And I looked down at my ring.
My beautiful ring that Handsome had made for me by a local jeweler…
my engagement ring…
flanked by two wedding bands that he also designed and had made.
I had meant to clean it this past weekend.
No doubt it had blueberry batter in it!
It’s a very large amethyst….and so it gets all kinds
of dirt, etc. in it that makes it cloudy.
Still beautiful….but nothing like when it’s cleaned.
Sparkly, deep purple, can-see-the-facets clean.
Dang!
So, here we were……
the girls and I looking like the crypt-keeper and her daughters
that had fallen off the apple cart.
{Somehow the guys managed to escape any fashion fiascos.}
Beheaded bunnies flung all over the kitchen…
looking like a crime scene.
A shoe explosion in the bedroom.
My lovely plans to bless my family
blown to bits!
But it was when I looked down in the car at my ring
that I heard a still small voice.
You know….during the time that I was trying
to get my attitude straight before getting to church.
{So I could smile and say ‘Fine’. Because I was afraid
that someone was going to ask me how I was doing
and I was going to break down and yell something like
“THE BUNNIES DIDN’T WORK!!!!”
And then they would need to call the behavioral
health professionals for back-up.}
It was when I gazed at my ring that the still small
voice said…..
“Daune, you’ve had the perfect Easter morning.
This is why I died. You don’t need to be cleaned
up and sparkly to come to me…..you come just as
you are…wherever you are. No need to clean up first.”
We can bring our mismatched, rag-tag, chipped, cloudy, dirty,
barette-hoisted, bad attitude selves to the cross.
With all our failures and disappointments.
That’s what Easter morning is all about.
He will clean me up to where I sparkle and shine…
with the facets that he has placed within me
reflecting His love to my family and others.
So, that’s when I realized that I had had the
Perfect Easter Morning.
True story.
Blessings to you~
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