Balancing Holidays

Between Christmas and Easter this year I have struggled with my balancing act.  Not the normal balancing family and activities, but balancing secular and Spiritual.  It is a lot of fun to die eggs, have Easter egg hunts, make Easter crafts, and Easter food...But, this year more than any other year I felt the secular influence outweigh the Spiritual aspect and it kind of distrubed me.    For me it is easy to see what Easter is all about, but I didn't get the impression my children were focusing on the TRUE point of Easter.



I love how God teaches us things through encounters!  Yesterday I had an encounter that changed my perspective on this Easter season.  I was in the large town :)  and I saw 3 men standing on a busy corner waving at everyone passing.  I know you might say, "Wow what an encounter," but these men were making a huge statement because with them they had a very large cross.  As I was shopping my mind kept wandering back to those men and the Lord started speaking to my heart.  I had a long drive home to listen to the Lord speaking to my heart.  I realized that satan is trying the best he can to get God out of our lives.  he wants us to focus on our own pleasures rather than focusing on the True Figure.  I in no way am saying that Easter egg hunts, coloring eggs, and making fun crafts is wrong.  We enjoy these fun family activities!  But I do think we need to be proactive making Easter (and Christmas) more about Christ.



This year we decided to celebrate the passover with our children.  It was such a great learning experience.   We learned so much of the symbolism behind the bread, wine(grape juice :) ), and the sacrificial lamb. It was so much fun learning more of the  Easter history.  Also, this year instead of buying Easter baskets full of candy, eggs, and toys we decided to buy a Bible story book the kids have been wanting.  We gave this to them on Good Friday.  For Christians Good Friday is also like Christmas.  God gave His only Son as a gift to us!  So we wanted to give the kids a gift that would draw them closer to Christ. 

I would love to hear your ideas of how you balance the holidays!  Or if you have a fun Easter activity that you do with your family please share! It doesn't have to be a Spiritual activity. :)   I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!