Easter the Gift

Christmas is synonymous with the Gift and, consequently, any and every gift. The holiday is all about giving and receiving, and so many traditions are centered on these actions of love. On Christmas the world was presented with a Gift in the form of a Babe, but there was no reckless ripping of wrapping paper followed by squeals of joy and "it's just what I always wanted!" Instead, there were curious looks as we held the odd-sized gift and examined it. It didn't make any sense to us, still under the shackles of the Law. And so we held that present all these 30 years between Christ's birth and resurrection--we shook it and felt it and inspected it and began to guess at what it was.

Hardly any guesses were correct, however. Indeed, it wasn't until the curtain rent in two, the stone was rolled away, and the scales fell off our eyes that, with delirious ecstasy, we finally understood the Gift.

The gold, frankincense, and myrrh weren't the Gift. Even the Christ Child Himself wasn't the fullness of the Gift. Easter is really the Gift, for there is no greater gift than the sacrifice Christ made for us and the salvation He offers to us. And His resurrection on the third day means that His Gift is not only one of sacrifice and love but also life and hope. Now I understand the Gift!

{These pictures are from our egg-decorating adventures this year using the time-honored Polish tradition called pisanki. We applied beeswax using a "stylus"--shown in the second picture--then dyed the eggs to a royal blue or emerald green, and then melted the beeswax to reveal the white eggshell underneath which formed a beautiful design!}