Make This an Easter to Remember

One Christmas my family was particularly broke.  I was very young but I was aware that my parents didn't have much money.  And that Christmas was my very favorite as a kid.  I don't know exactly why it was, but I always had a special place in my memories for that Christmas.  I remember my parents got me a Ghostbusters car and dropped it from the roof after a bell rang as if Santa had dropped it out of his sleigh for me.  I never believed in Santa, but I still loved that. Perhaps, even as a young boy I realized the efforts my parents put in to make our most broke Christmas whole for me.

This Easter will not go as any of us would have designed it to go.

Many families will be their most broke.  No families will be going to Easter service at church in the usual way.  This will be the oddest Easter ever for most all of us.

But this likely will be the most memorable Easter ever.

What will you do to make this Easter a happy memory?  What will your children remember about this Easter?  Will this Easter be marked with suffering or creative joy?  Will this Easter be remembered for what you did not do or what you did do?

As I thought about Easter 2020 I was nothing short of blue.  Easter is my favorite Sunday of the year.  Fathers' Day is nice and Mothers' Day is important, but what more important Sunday on the church calendar is there than Resurrection Sunday?  None.  So, I was bummed thinking about all that I was going to miss this year: church, taking the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house, going somewhere other than my own address.

Then my wife changed my thinking.  She said she was going to cook a big Easter meal and invite a couple of our single friends to eat with us.  Now before you bag on us for not following social distancing protocol, the friends are joining us via videochat.  Christine is going to deliver them their meal and they will eat with us at the virtual table.

This idea got me excited about Easter.  This was so easy and yet far enough out of the box to move it from weird to special.  Easter 2020 will be special for us, not bad.  I hope this Easter is a fond memory for us and for everyone involved.

What will you do to make Easter 2020 one to remember forever?  How will you make this Easter special?

Now that you have a plan to make it memorable please don't forget to make it memorable in the right ways.  Make sure your memories of this strange time highlight your values.  Will you have a memory of the time you dressed up for Easter service and only had to travel to the couch?  Will you remember the time your neighbor hid eggs in your yard for the kids to find (this is really happening thanks to a great friend)?  Will your kids remember how Dad played extra Easter worship on his guitar even after the computer was shut off?  Will they remember extended prayer time for hurting neighbors and thanksgiving for a risen Savior who can help?  Will you reflect on how you took inventory of what really mattered to you as you looked at the blessings around you?

Easter 2020 is not going to go the way any of us non-hermits would have planned.  There will be more inconveniences and pure suffering around us than any other time in my life, but there can be good, deep, memory making joy, too. 

Plan to make great Easter 2020 memories today.