And the Rains Came Down

It's a dark and stormy morning around these parts. Very dark and very stormy. So far, I've seen three tornado warnings expire for our county, but another one is issued until 10:45 a.m. You see that big white spot on the map that says "Greatest Risk?" We're right in the middle of it. Fun times.

The good thing about living in a small, one-story house is that no matter what room I'm in, I'm always on the ground level. The bad thing is that we really don't have any interior rooms. Our master closet is the closest thing to an interior room that we have, so, basically, if a tornado hits our house, we're doomed.

I have a long history of fear when it comes to tornadoes. It all started in the fifth grade when an F4 tornado ripped through my neighborhood. I was standing at the top of the stairs when it passed over our house, and I'll never forget what it felt like to have the house tremble around me. By the time I made it downstairs to the bathroom, it was all over. Four people died just down the street from us. My dad helped search for their bodies. It was one of the longest and scariest nights of my life.

That experience left me quite skittish of days like today. I don't want to live in fear, but I do have a healthy respect for such violent weather.

I hope you're all staying safe and dry today. I'll be huddling in a closet before too long, I'm sure.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Easter in the Jones Household

What a weekend we had! It was filled with egg dyeing, visiting with my parents, celebrating at church, egg hunting, and general fun. It's no secret that I'm striving to be more intentional this year, and that includes the way we celebrate holidays. More than anything, I want Micah to know that Easter is about more than a fictional bunny that delivers candy in the middle of the night. It's about more than new clothes and egg hunts and yummy food. It's about a risen Savior. That changes the way we approach a lot of things in our home. For one thing, the Easter bunny doesn't know our address. Micah still received a basket of small gifts, but it came from her daddy and me. We still dyed Easter eggs because we can use them as object lessons for the new life we have in Christ, and yesterday afternoon, Micah hunted plastic eggs in the yard because empty Easter eggs are a great way to convey the message of an empty tomb. We're trying to be thoughtful about the traditions we practice and honor in our home. For us, it's worth it to sacrifice the Easter bunny because it allows the cross and subsequent empty tomb to be the center of our Easter reflections.

At any rate, the way we celebrate Easter may be a little different than most American families, but it works for us. Here are some images from the weekend.

Egg dyeing with Micah was a lot of fun. She was patient and interested in the process, and she even "dyed" her own (plastic) egg while I took care of the real eggs.

Since my parents were here to visit, we had someone to take our picture yesterday afternoon after church. Yay for a family portrait!

Micah enjoyed hunting eggs for a little while, but she soon lost interest and preferred hanging out with her Nana and Grampa, who took her home with them yesterday afternoon. It's a quiet house around here without my little spitfire, but that also means that I have a little uninterrupted time to do a bit more writing and designing.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! How did you celebrate??

Until next time, grace and peace.

An Easter Reflection

Easter is such a fabulous time of celebration for believers, and there's nothing like a good Easter service at church to make you want to jump for joy. It is, hands down, my favorite church service of the entire year. Don't get me wrong, I love the pageantry and drama of Christmas, but the joy and wonder of the resurrection simply can't be topped.

This morning in church, we sang songs of Jesus' life and death, his burial and his resurrection. The place seemed to be vibrating with the glory of our risen Savior. We have so much to celebrate, and believe me, there was some celebration going on.

On Friday, I mentioned that it was in his death that we see Jesus' humanity most fully, but it is in the resurrection that we see his divinity most clearly. Only God could raise himself up from the dead. He is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise, and I pray that you had a chance to worship Him this morning.

As I have spent the weekend reflecting on the events of Easter, these words from Frederick Buechner seem particularly fitting.

"The symbol of Easter is the empty tomb. You can't depict or domesticate emptiness. You can't make it into pageants and string it with lights. It doesn't move people to give presents to each other or sing old songs. It ebbs and flows all around us, the Eastertide. Even the great choruses of Handel's Messiah sound a little like a handful of crickets chirping under the moon.

He rose. A few saw him briefly and talked to him. If it is true, there is nothing left to say. If it is not true, there is nothing left to say. For believers and unbelievers both, life has never been the same again. For some, neither has death. What is left now is the emptiness. There are those who, like Magdalen, will never stop searching it till they find his face."

Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter's Dictionary

May you never stop searching the emptiness.

Until next time, grace and peace.