Easter

Sometimes with little kids, life just flies past! Today marks one month since the boys birthday, and I have yet to post pictures. They are coming, I promise...just not today!

We have spent much of our time at school this week doing crafts and math activities and coloring and other art projects about Easter. It strikes me that the story has become very familiar to my boys and to myself. In some ways I love that, it's not a foreign concept to us that Jesus died for our sins. In other ways though, I don't like that at all. The most amazing story in all of history has lost some of its flare. We are not as shocked by the way the people treated Jesus, our Lord. We are not as appalled at the fact that our sin was what drove Him to the cross. We are not as amazed by His love for us in going to death for us. Do you know what I mean? Can you relate?

While all that I just said is true, I also know that it is true that each year we have a great appreciation for what He has done. A greater sense for our need of Him to come. A deeper thanks for the love He has and the ways that He has shown that love to us. God is faithful to open our eyes a little more each year - even though the story is so familiar.

One effort today to have a new way to see the effect of what Jesus did for us was sparked by this idea on a blog that I saw...HERE... I didn't have the supplies to do what she suggests, so I improvised.

I took a cookie sheet that we use for school related things, and our water colors and some shaving cream. We stood in the kitchen around the cookie sheet and I painted on a red heart. (the paint didn't show up all that great, but it was enough to get the point!) Then I asked the boys to share some specific sins that they struggle with, things that are in their heart that Jesus died to save them from. They listed things like - hitting, fighting, whining, anger, complaining, not trusting God, etc. I chimed in with a few too. Then we pretended that the shaving cream was Jesus' blood and we covered the heart with it. Then I washed it in the sink. After I was done the cookie sheet was all clean! "Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow!"

It's the little things that God uses...Lord please show us more of yourself this weekend! Thank you for loving us so much that you were willing to die for us - While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!