Sunday, April 12, 2009
He is Risen - Happy Easter
Today is Easter! It's also Sunday of the Masters. And it's also only 40 degrees outside. Usually, the Masters and Easter Sunday are the arch we walk through into spring. The birds are usually chirping, the grass is usually turning green. Not this year. This year we're coming off several snow storms and some dreary weather. Despite a few brief windows of spring weather, it looks like we're going to skip from winter to summer without much transition.
Notwithstanding, as we celebrate the resurrection, our hearts are filled with spring-like joy and newness. Yesterday, I went for a long bike ride with my buddy Dan, set up my new office at work (we moved buildings), cooked dinner, and went on a Easter Egg Hunt in Reunion. The Easter Egg Hunt is quite a spectacle. Essentially the entire neighborhood goes to Reunion Park, there to find roped off areas with thousands (five thousand to be exact) of Easter Eggs in the middle. On the signal of my friend Patrick, hundreds upon hundreds of kids enter the roped off areas to fill their Easter baskets with the eggs. You'd think that it would take quite awhile for little kids to pick up 5000 eggs, but not so - after about 20 seconds, the party is over. Some kids hold up their Easter baskets triumphantly grinning over how much candy they just found. Others are standing in the same place, wondering what just happened. And then there's Austin.
When the bell sounded, I quickly realized that the eggs near the perimeter were being quickly swept up, and that unless Austin took the middle ground, he wasn't going to be left with much. So in a flash, I grabbed him and carried him to the middle of the field, where eggs abounded. Of course, Austin wanted to do it all on his own, but I didn't realize that until I plopped him down into the middle of the field, ready to watch him swipe up the eggs at his feet, but instead watched the tears stream down his face. I had stepped between the eggs and his individuality, and he was not happy. I grabbed 4 eggs for him and put them in his basket, and then spent the rest of the morning being reprimanded by him: "You shouldn't have carried me to the middle," he said.
Now I know.
Happy Easter everyone.
-RPL
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2 comments:
Love that story! Austin is such a big boy now! :)
I am no theologian, nor do I claim to be, but the irony behind this story is wonderful. On Easter we celebrate not just the resurrection but the freedom that comes with it. Austin was given a resurrection, a freedom if you would, to explore egg land. It was his grace for the day. Ryno, I understand you were just trying to help the poor little guy get candy for and perhaps for you to feed your candy addiction, but we far too often overstep our limits with grace. We take control, we dictate our freedom, and in the end, just screw it up. As Austin said, "you shouldn't have carried me to the middle" for he understood he was free, he knew about the grace. He is Risen, and we have received grace; it is not for us to abuse but to cherish. Hatch into it! Alleluia.
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