Easter - A Sad Affair

EASTER! Easter is on its way. YES! Lents almost over and I can go back to snacking to my hearts content - if I wish. I'm not sure I will though. To be honest not snacking has done my the world of good and I might start to structure my food a little more. Like try to just have one snack between meals and make it fruit not a pack of ice gems. It has been so hard this Lent but finally I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, a light shining in all its buscuity, fruity and tasty glory. MmmmmMmmmm... i can't wait. But whilst I sit snacking and munching on foxes creams and Scotland shortbread I must remember the real meaning of Easter and Jesus's tragic and heroic death on the cross. A minister in a church once said that we often like to celebrate to celebrate the happy christian festivals but neglect the negative ones with a more serious tone or dress them up in frills and feathers until they almost loose their meaning or the substance behind that meaning desintegrates. Easter is far too morbid, too serious for the taste buds of many. Jesus hung and bleeding on the cross. It does sound pretty depressing doesn't it. But it's fact not opinion and its important we remember it just like that. Theres no point dressing it up in some fabulous and frivolous affair-we are celebrating a sad moment-and that is it.

Easter eggs, daffodils and baby chicks do serve a purpose though. This feeling of new life and a new leaf taken from Jesus rising does give a good and accurate meaning behind Easter. A chance to take a U-turn in your life and be forgiven for all sins. And teach this teach this, teach this to the children. Tell them of a new-life, a happy day and a chance to be forgiven ... but also teach them why. Why we get this chance...

Teach them the story of Jesus' betrayal, his bravery, his pain. Tell them of Judas's mistake, his greed and betrayal. Teach them of the last supper, the bread the wine. Of Pontius Pilate and the robbers on the cross. Teach them of the grief and sadness. Also teach them of the happy ending, of everyone's second chance. Their second chance. But make sure they know how much was sacrificied to get them this new chance. They will appreciate it more - grasp it with both hands. The story of Easter is just as important of the meaning. Don't dress it up and ice it with a cherry on the top. Let people begin their new life, new start with the truth in their heart.

This Sunday I woke up at 7:10 am and draped down the hall way to my parents room. It wasn't much later than my usual wake up time on a school day but Mothers Day is a special occasion. I took the occassion as a chance to snuggle into the double bed with my brother, mother and father. My original plan was a surprise breakfast in bed, flowers and something special but at such an early time snuggling into bed alongside the family seemed ideal. Bed in breakfast kind of went ahead. At about 7:30 me, dad and Alex (my little brother) departed from the comfy quilt and left mum in peace whilst we went downstairs to cook breakfast - the full monty (bacon, eggs, sausage, beans and fried bread) however the bed part dissapeared as we - out of habit - yelled up the staiirs, 'MUM! BREAKFASTS READY!'. So breakfast was eaten at the breakfast bar like usual. Presents were given and smiles and hugs were exchanged along with two very humble thankyous from me and Alex. After the celebration (if you could call it that) me and mum made our way down to church...



A FACT - i totally didn't know this but mothering Sunday is a christian day named as it was a day when everyone would revisit their big 'mother church'. It was often a day when servants were allowed to go back to their home town to see their family and mothers. It is slap bang in the middle of lent and traditionally a day to relax the lent rules - i so didn't know that.



But now mothers day is a day to celebrate and appreciate the women who share its name. To thank them for all they do for us - and they do do alot. Mothers truly are wonderful aren't they! I mean the amount of things they do for us :

• Cook our meals



• Clean our clothes (and bedrooms)



• Buy us things



• Taxi us around to different parties, houses and clubs



• send us to school



• Help us learn, help us grow



• Play with us, entertain us



• Take us on holiday



• Love us

Thats quite a big list and it could go on. Mothers are an amazing micracle but if we think about it we are all mothers. From when a baby is born we all participate in its ubringing. Primarily the responsibility is with family - grannies, grandads, aunties and uncles - visitng and nurturing the baby helping it learn new words and develop a personality. Then, as the baby grows, school teachers become a part of its life taking part for a good few 11 years there job to teach and help the child grow and mature. And now arrives everyone else: friends, churches anyone who knows or has contact with the child. It is our job to look after the child and make sure they grow into a happy and healthy young adult. We must first and formost be a good role model for every one around us. Carry Christs word on our shoulders for every one to see and help these children to overcome the challenges the face. Make time to listen, play and teach them. Greet them with with a smile everyday and be the light in their life. It is a simple and rewarding thing to do, to show a child the way and just be there

Mothers are like omelettes

When God created mothers,
I'm sure he must have said
'Let's make them just like breakfast
My favourite daily bread'

Lets have them make the children grow
And start their day with caring
'Goodness son, what a wonderful smell
What meal are you preparing?

Jesus, in his chefs chappo
Appeared as from a comet
In his hand a splendid dish
'A thing I call a omelette

It's fluffy on the outside
A treat for the nose and eye
But what I think you'll like the most
is the beauty thats inside

A treasure of suprises
In this case ham and cheese
And a pinch of love and tenderness
Just like all our recipes'

God thus raised his magic fork
And gave the dish a try
'Mmmmm...Good indeed
To this I say...Bullseye!'

These mothers I'm creating...
This is now my will...
With wonderful surprises
They too all shall be filled'

'To start the day a loving way
Shall be their tender aim.
So it shall be written
So I have proclaimed'

So it was from that day on
Mother got their start
the omelettes of our breakfasts
The breakfasts of our hearts.


A wondeful poem I found on the internet. Hope you enjoyed, Happy Mothers Day!

Why?

1st kid: why did Jesus have to go to heaven before he went to hell?
2nd kid: because he wanted to rescue his friend Judas ...

Jesus gives us 2nd chances so why do I find it so hard to forgive x

Don't give up...give back

What have you given up for lent? Chocolate, Sweets? I've given up snacks (eating between meals) and now only eat breakfast, dinner, lunch and supper. Supper - there was a whole debate about that one in my house! Was supper a meal or not? Eventually my mum said that, seen as I wasn't eating snacks I could count supper as a meal. Oh gosh, its killing me. If anyone knows me then they will know I eat - a lot. So this is very very hard for me but i fully believe that god will help me through. I also thought that giving this up for lent was doing good until I read an article about giving up more serious things for lent.

A church minister from Scotland planned a 'Chocolate Sunday' where people could go along and enjoy chocolate fountains and treats to get them to think about the true meaning of lent. At the evening you could eat chocolate or all the other luxuries we give up 4 lent but the idea was to think about helping others - a worthy lent activity. He said, 'Many people use the discipline of these weeks to give up chocolate or fish suppers or the likes, but I prefer the idea of Lent being a time to give ourselves in service to others'. I found this an interesting and very relevant comment. Most of the time we give up small things for lent that don't affect us very much like chocolate and sweets. I believe the list below is the most popular items we give up for lent..

• Chocolate


• TV


• Crisps


• Sweets


• Chips


• Games Console

It all seems pretty silly to me now. I look at that list and see that everything we give up half the world aren't even priveleged to have. Who is giving up these things satisfying apart from ourselves? So what can I give up? Well I suppose the answer is not quite clear. We could give up something that could help the environment such as TV or our ipod. But we also give up something that we do which affects others such as backstabbing or swearing or being aggressive. Or, alternatively we could give up nothing at all but devote the whole period of lent to helping others; doing odd jobs for neighbours or maybe volunteering somewhere in you local area. I guess you could say it is bringing lent into the 21st century but then was lent already into the 21st century and we were just lagging behind? Anyhow I believe we should start a new tradition this lent, instead of giving up we should give back to our community.