We Kill Jesus in Our House

When it comes to Christmas, I know I'm in a camp of my own.  "You don't celebrate Santa.  Hmmm...."

I know we are not the only family that doesn't celebrate Santa, but we are the only family in my little world who doesn't.  I've grown accustomed to the looks and questions...

But when it comes to Easter, I had no idea that I was also in a camp of my own... until this year.

I assumed that there was the Easter Bunny camp, the Jesus and Easter Bunny camp, and the Jesus only camp.  But lately I have found that most families around me only celebrate half of the Easter story... the "Jesus rose from the dead!" half... neglecting to ever put Him in the ground first.

Apparently, the sword, the whip, the nails, the cross, the death are all too violent for childrens' ears.

And I agree because the truth is that the real story with all of its gruesome details are too violent for my 30+ year old self much less for my 1 and 3 year olds!!! (Sidenote: I literally tried to hide under my chair in the movie theater while watching the Passion of Christ.)

And yet, how can we fully celebrate Jesus rising from the dead if we don't also celebrate the death that took place on Good Friday?

There's a reason it is called GOOD Friday.

It is good.  So good.

I try very hard to keep everything age appropriate for my kids.  I totally understand the concern of exposing them to things that they aren't ready for.  I'm the one who banned Winnie the Pooh from our playlist because Finley was terrified of the 100 Acre Woods.  I get it.  Totally get it.

And yet, I see no way to plant the seeds or to fully celebrate Easter without killing Jesus.  So we talk about the whip.  We talk about the thorns.  We talk about the sword.  The cross.  The blood.  We talk about it all.  We may not go into graphic detail, but we don't leave anything out either.

Afterall Finley has seen the prince slay the dragon (by a sword mind you...) in Sleeping Beauty.  She has seen Simba kill off Scar in the Lion King.  She has witnessed and heard all kinds of fairytales about love and death so why would I shield her from the greatest fairytale of all?  The only fairytale that is true!  The one about the Prince of Peace who comes to earth because of His LOVE for us, dies a violent death, is buried, and rises again in order to conquer death and by doing so pays for our sins so that we can have eternal life with HIM.

Yep, we kill Jesus in our house.  And we'll keep killing Him every year at Easter in the hopes that each year our (all of our) understanding of His amazing sacrifice will ring true in our hearts every day and not just on Easter.... that we will fully appreciate the fact that He rose again because we know what He overcame to do so.

And so far, there have been no nightmares to speak of...  only smiles, cries of joy, and exclamations of "Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins!  Isn't that AMAZING?"  Yes, sweet girl, it is amazing!!!!!!!!

Happy Good Friday!