In our Easter finest

Sunday while getting ready for our Easter Church service, my mind wondered back to memories of years gone by, when our holidays would be spent with my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins in southern Arkansas. My mom was a seamstress and each year she took great pleasure making my sisters and me beautiful new Easter dresses. The occasion brought on many family photo opportunities, Mom and Dad dressed in their finest, Pam, Sheri and I adorned in our newly sewn Easter garments. Wardrobes completed with new patent leather shoes, Easter bonnets and white gloves. Each family would gather at my Great Grandparents for a wonderful lunch followed by day packed full of Easter egg hunts. With baskets in hand all of my cousins and I would start the search. Somehow our grandparents would find the time to hide the beautifully died Easter eggs that each of our families had created the day before. What a wonderful day, being with family, memories I shall always cherish.

This Easter Sunday was different for me, each of my children, now grown and with families of their own, had other places to be. Nonetheless, I had Easter Services to attend. I searched my closet for a dress that I thought would keep me in the Easter Spirit, something the color of those beautifully died Easter eggs of days gone by.

Living in the middle of the woods, I have learned to take in the moment. You never know just what you might see each time you step outside. It had rained the evening before and everything looked bold, green and fresh. I was greeted by the chattering Ruby throated hummingbirds flocking to the feeders my husband George had hung the first of April, the American Goldfinches were flittering back and forth from the trees to the feeders twitting just-look-at-me just-look-at-me. They had changed from their drab olive green winter colors to their bright yellow and black colors. The Doves were cooing and searching the grounds for seeds, the Cardinals adorned the bushes with their magnificent colors of red. I noticed the iris buds were starting to burst open, the Weigela bushes covered with flowers the color of lilac were filled with butterflies feeding on the fresh nectar their flowers, the lilies of the valleys, hosta and the ferns were standing tall and straight as if standing at attention. Even the barren tress had somehow sprouted leaves overnight or so it seemed. It was as if all of God’s creation had dressed for the occasion, in their Easter finest, helping me celebrate the day our Savior arose from the grave, giving all who believe a new birth.