Ten Things Special About Easter

A little message from author contributor Linda Ford. Be blessed this week with a memorable Good Friday and glorious Easter (Resurrection Sunday) coming up.
I was blessed by Linda's (number 4) the best, for that is what Easter is to me.

I wonder which of the ten things touches your heart.

 Ten Things I like about Easter

By Linda Ford

1.      It comes in tandem with spring which needs no explanation. But by this time of year I am aching for green, for flowers, for open water.

2.      It is full of rich memories—I remember when I was young child and my older sister saved all the pretty gold and silver wrappings from chocolate bars (which also giving her an excuse to indulge). At Easter, she wrapped all kinds of Easter treats in the gold and silver papers and hid them outside for us to find. A wonderful Easter treat.

When our children were at home, we also had an Easter egg hunt although it usually had to be indoors. For weeks afterwards someone would be surprised by a chocolate egg rolling out from under a lamp or from behind a book.

3.      As children, we got a new outfit at Easter. I suppose we were due for fresh clothes after the winter season.  But it was also a tradition.  People dressed up at Easter. I often think of this song. (One I learned to sing in Glee Club)

Easter Parade - by Irving Berlin
For In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it
You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade

I'll be all in clover and when they look you over
I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade
On the Avenue
Fifth Avenue
The photographers will snap us
And you'll find that you're
In the rotogravure 

4.      I love the songs of Easter. They stir the soul with their sense of joy and victory. I can never sing up From the Grave He Arose without wanting to shout. 

5.             My husband and I were married on Easter weekend many years ago and honeymooned amidst flowering cherry trees in British Columbia. 

6.      The baby animals. Often our new chicks would arrive about this time. And often the weather would turn cold and the baby chicks would end up in the kitchen for a few days. Cheep. Cheep. Cheep day and night. And baby calves. My hubbie is a rancher so we enjoy this every year. 

7.      The symbolism—such as boiled eggs that you break open like the grave was broken open to reveal the empty tomb. To me, it symbolizes new life and the empty cross to show our Redeemer lives. Lilies remind us that death is conquered.

8.      New beginnings. Spring, new birth, an empty grave. How can we not have hope? How can I not face each new day with joy and anticipation?

9.      That anticipation carries forward to every aspect of my life. I am eager to face the new page, the new story, the new opportunity.

10.   He is risen. He is risen indeed.