Easter for dummies

I've been trying to work out how to explain Easter to my 2 year old. When we went on an Easter egg hunt the other day he insisted on calling it an Easter bear hunt (can you guess what his favourite book is?). So we need to start with the basics and keep it simple!

I tried talking to him about Jesus taking our punishment the other day and thought I was using terms he would understand but he got distracted and quickly stopped listening. It dawned on me that I was still trying to go too deep and explain the "why" and "how" behind Easter when really he just needs to know the basic "what". I sat down and started to try to write about the events of Easter in its most basic form. Here's what I've got so far:

1. Jesus is God's son - I figured telling him who this Jesus bloke is was a good place to start
2. Jesus came to tell people about God - I could give a list of all Jesus came to do (preaching, healing, miracles, to forgive and rescue us etc etc) but this seemed like a simple way of summing that up.
3. Some people didn't like Jesus and wanted him to go away - I was going to put "and they killed him" but didn't want little J to think that killing people if you don't like them is a legitimate option haha
4. Jesus died on a cross - at a later date I can add that he did it to rescue us
5. Jesus came back to life - at a later date I can add that it was part of God's rescue plan to fix everything.
6. Jesus is in heaven now with his daddy and he can live in our hearts too if we ask him

So there we go, that's my toddler friendly Easter story. If you're looking for ideas for activities to do with little ones at Easter take a look at this post

Happy Easter!!!

Modern day sabbath

I am officially rubbish at resting. I have a tendency to think "I'll just get all the chores done and then I'll rest". But when you're a mum of two small kids your work is never done. Even as I sit here now trying to relax I'm still thinking of all the other jobs I need to do over the next few days.

The other day I read a great article about the concept of having a sabbath and it really challenged and inspired me. The Bible says that rest is important - if the creator of the universe needed a day off, how much more do we mere mortals need a break?! God has our best interests at heart and knows how vital rest is for not only our physical but also emotional well being.

So here I am preparing for our first proper sabbath. We have chosen a Saturday this week as hubby isn't working and Sunday's are always busy with church activities. The dishes are all done and put away, laundry is all done, toys tidied up and bins taken out. There are now no chores left to do that can't wait until Sunday. Tomorrow morning we will quickly chuck a chilli in the slow cooker (or maybe just decide to get take away) and then we will be all set to sit back and enjoy our day together.

The plan is to spend the day enjoying time together as family with no chores, no dishes, no cooking, no checking emails, no doing the tesco order or online banking - just me and my family enjoying each other and enjoying God.

I'll let you know how it goes but I have a feeling it's going to be rather freeing!