“Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold…”~WB Yeats
I stopped at the store last week to buy cashews and makeup remover, and found the aisles cluttered with packs of glitter dye and impossible towers of pastel baskets. I realized then how much I still have to accomplish before Easter. My children are teenagers, but they still love eggs stuffed with dollar bills and hershey kisses. I made a mental note to brave the abyss of our basement and drag down the bin filled with an assortment of plastic eggs, bunny shaped everything, and wicker baskets. The time-worn wicker reminds me of their toddler days when my greatest goal in life was to buy them coordinating gingham-lined baskets. How we mamas grow right alongside them.
The stacked shelves surprised me because the last few weeks my mind has been firmly grounded in Lent–a season of reduction in a world of overstuffed Costcos and Targets. I wouldn’t have said that a decade ago–instead of preparing my heart for resurrection, I’d have been busy trying to avoid hosting Easter dinner. Over the last few years I’ve taken baby steps to observing the important seasons of the church calendar. It has given the days and seasons of the Gregorian calendar shape, adding a new depth and richness to the days as they slip by me.
As the days of March draw us closer and closer to Easter, my thoughts often turn to the witnesses of the crucifixion and resurrection. I try to imagine myself standing in the skin of John or Peter or Mary Magdalene. I try to imagine the bravado of the soldiers, the anonymous crowd shouting “Crucify him!”, the wife of Pilate shaken awake in a film of sweat and dark images.
I try to imagine Mary, mother of Jesus, and my own mother’s heart feels rent with the pain of it. As Jesus breathed his last and the earth shook and an opaque darkness descended, I wonder what thoughts filled their heads, what lies their eyes and ears told them. Perhaps the same words written by Yeats nearly two thousand years later were birthed in the minds of these witnesses. “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”
It seemed as if the center of their lives, the world, the universe, could not hold onto his fragile humanity. But, we know the end of the story. We know that God knit everything back together three days later. I like to think their was a hope inside each of them that flickered like a flame, daring to believe the impossible.
I want to spend time with these men and women a little longer, so I created something for us to share this Easter season. I’ve recorded an audio devotional for each day of Holy Week–a meditation on the Journey to Resurrection through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it. These short audio devotionals are meant to help us center our thoughts on Jesus even as we hide Easter eggs and stuff our baskets with bunnies. Play it while you run errands, wait in the car line, or bake ahead for Easter dinner. The first devotional will land in in-boxes on Palm Sunday, and will arrive daily thereafter until the day before Easter.
If you’re already a blog subscriber, these mini devotionals will arrive automatically. If you haven’t subscribed to this blog, you can do so by clicking here , and the Holy Week audio will arrive your inbox, as well as my weekly posts.
As we wait for Palm Sunday, I’ve created three spring printables for you to download and print for free. It’s my gift to you as we wait for spring to arrive at long last here in the Northeast. I hope you enjoy them!
