Easter- Keeping the main thing the main thing

The other day we were driving down the road and Miss Shyra Beth sees some interesting looking people at the traffic lights and pipes up "Look at that those weirdos."You may laugh, and in perfect honesty so did I. However it really got me to thinking what sort of person I am raising. My job has gone from cuddling, feeding and changing to moulding a little human life. You know what? That thought TERRIFIES me. It terrified me when I was pregnant and even more so now when she pulls lines like that out of no where. What do I want to teach my children? What am I teaching them without meaning to teach them with my own behaviour, pre-conceptions, language and mentalities?

Even more than that, being Christian parents, Easter has caused us to stop and evaluate how we are passing on our faith to our kids. I've been feeling really challenged by the concept of bringing up our kids to be "in the world but not of it." But where is it that we draw the line? How do we find a happy medium? As young children who are not yet able to fully comprehend things I don't want our kids association of Christianity to be one of depravity. I don't want them growing up without a Christmas tree because it derives from a pagan tradition, nor do I want them to be the only ones at school who didn't get easter eggs because we went to church on Sunday.

At our church conference NZ & Beyond one of the speakers used this line- "It keeps the main thing, the main thing." I think in a world where Christmas is about Santa, Easter is about chocolate and Anzac about biscuits, the happy medium we think we have found is where we keep the main thing the main thing. Easter Sunday is about Jesus. It is about celebrating the Risen King with our family and Church family and thanking him for his ultimate sacrifice. So on Easter Sunday we went to church as a family and then at home we read her the easter story and showed her an animated version on youtube.

And on Easter Monday, Shyra-Beth had her first wee Easter egg hunt. Shyra-Beth having access to multiple pieces of chocolate is not a concept I'm ready to handle. Thanks to her lovely Aunty Hannah who is always spoiling her, we hid these adorable Smiggle Animal Eraser eggs around the garden. The bright colours made it easy for her to find, and once we coaxed her into finding the first one she was all go with her pink wagon (another present from Aunty Hannah) At the end she got her first Easter egg, which Grandma dropped off for her before they went away. Shyra absolutely loved all the bright colours and the animals she found inside her eggs, it was cause for endless entertainment and on Monday night, when I went to make sure her duvet was on properly I found half the erases in her bed! Such a fun activity but we still got to keep the main thing the main thing! 

He Is Risen!