**Can you guess which one is me?
As a young child, Easter meant one thing to me: candy!
Especially the oversized, foil-wrapped, hollow milk chocolate bunny I would get in my Easter basket every year. I would try to eat it in one sitting!
My mom, of Eastern-European descent, loved all the Easter traditions and made sure that each year we colored eggs, had Easter-egg hunts and did an egg-rolling game that I thought every family knew (but I found out later it was unknown to most other people) and we also had an egg-cracking competition that it best explained in person!
We also got new Easter outfits and attended church, where my Dad sang in the choir. I have lovely, warm and wonderful memories of Easter morning, fun family times and delicious holiday food.
Even at a young age I was aware that Easter had a sacred meaning, aside from the chocolate, eggs and outfits... but it wasn't until I was on the cusp of adulthood that I realized what all the fanfare was really about: sacrifice, redemption and rebirth.
I know, I know... there are pagan roots of what we call Easter. I've been down the rabbit hole and back again and I know about the German "goddess" of the spring Ostara; the connections to Ishtar, the Babylonian "goddess" of fertility; and of course, the obvious connection to the English "goddess" of the spring, Oestre; the name which closely resembles estrogen. Hmmmm... eggs, Easter... get it?
Yet my faith provides another view: Easter celebrates Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, fulfillment of the prophecies and the hope of salvation for all mankind.
God redeems what man has corrupted.
And that's a pretty amazing reason to celebrate.
So Happy Easter! May it be a time of renewal, rebirth and recommitment to living according to God's laws and shining His light of truth.
- Peggy
