{#TellHisStory} It’s about the Lamb.

{This post was originally published here last year, but I’ve edited it for this year.}

I spent $8.84 on my kids’ Easter goodies. And that included the leftover jelly beans I got as a snack. I also used some things {Easter story books, plastic eggs and that jelly bean prayer bookmark} from the previous year. We’ll also make resurrection rolls and use plastic resurrection eggs to tell this story. His story.

Please know I’m not telling you how to do Easter; I’m just telling you how we do it. And I’m documenting life for myself because these first almost six years of motherhood are already running together in my mushy, momma brain.

So, their baskets. Well, truthfully, basket. I put it all together in one. Anyway, the basket tells the real Easter story. Each jelly bean color represents different things {Jesus’ blood, sin, grace, new life, etc.}. The chocolate money is a reminder of Judas’ betrayal. The rocks — edible and filled with chocolate! — symbolize the stone that was rolled away. And the lamb is a reminder that Jesus is the Lamb of God and always with us.

I want my kids to get it. I want them to understand Easter isn’t about bunnies and candy, but about the pivotal day in God’s story. And because that story involves God sending his son to live on earth, die a brutal death, and shock the world by rising from the grave, it is our story too. It’s about grace. And life. And forgiveness. And hope.

Jesus is alive. The stone was rolled away.

Or, as my daughter, who wasn’t quite 5 at the time, said: “Jesus died on a cross. He rose. And we can go to heaven with him.” Indeed.

So we’re going to talk about it all again in the days leading up to Easter. And, really, the days after that and many, many other times. But especially in 2 1/2 weeks on Easter Sunday.

On Easter Sunday, Cate will wear a dress to church, like she does every week, but I won’t buy her anything new. She has quite a selection of dresses, the majority of which hand-me-down from cousins or from a consignment rack. Ben will probably wear a collared shirt, but, again, that’s what he wears most weeks. Not because we go to a fancy church, trust me. But where else will a 3-year-old all-boy boy wear a nice shirt? Certainly not the park. And he’s got some cute shirts, thanks to a cousin’s hand-me-down selection. I may wear a skirt or dress pants. But God won’t care if I show up in jeans and flip flops.

Truth is the new clothes and treat-filled baskets don’t change us. Jesus rising from that grave offers us new life. He makes us new.

And that’s better than any bunny or fancy dress.

________

Here are a couple of the books we’ve used: “Let’s Celebrate Jesus on Easter” {available on Amazon for $2.29} and “A Child’s Story of Easter” {available on Amazon for $4.48}. And I always recommend “The Jesus Storybook Bible.” Melissa & Doug has a selection of Easter-related toys, including lambs. You can save $10 off an order that totals at least $75  with the code EASTER10 or $5 off a $50 order with EASTER5 through Thursday night.