{"id":172,"date":"2012-04-02T16:12:29","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T16:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=172"},"modified":"2012-04-02T16:12:29","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T16:12:29","slug":"easter-countdown-part-1-johnathan-has-a-starring-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=172","title":{"rendered":"Easter Countdown – Part 1 “Johnathan has a starring role”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the next few days, I am planning a countdown to my most favorite holiday.\u00a0 Each and every year, I stand in awe of what actually took place on that\u00a0hill almost two thousand years ago.\u00a0 At church, our pastor has a sermon series on the the last words\/phrases of Christ.\u00a0 It has been amazing and inspirational.\u00a0 This a-typical weather has been a blessing too – as Easter symbolizes the rebirth of God’s creation in the physical world as well as the spiritual world.<\/p>\n

Having grown up in the deep South, I am enamored with all things Easter.\u00a0 My favorite tradition outside of church is the egg hunt.\u00a0 I can still remember the annual egg hunt at the college president’s house where the eggs where hidden in the backyard, down the hill, for as far as my little eyes could see.<\/p>\n

Since I recently read an article in Mary Jane’s farm<\/strong> about being an idealist, I realize now that I tend to romanticize my Southern upbringing as a place where all good things happen like a perfect\u00a0blend of \u00a0The Walton’s,\u00a0Steel Magnolias, and just a pinch of sass from Designing Women and Fried Green Tomatoes<\/em>.\u00a0 So, I will confess to you all the part of the story that I often leave out. The eggs we\u00a0hunted\u00a0in that blazing Georgia sun, were not plastic ones . . . but yes, the real deal.<\/p>\n

Part of that idealism comes from having a wonderful imagination and dogged persistence that this world can be a better place.\u00a0 Sometimes that change for the better needs to start at home.\u00a0 So that’s exactly what we did last night as a family.\u00a0 We relished being together, by taking a pause from our crazy schedule.\u00a0 We took time to create a little project that involved remembering what this week really means as Christians, spending time together and using one of our beloved outdoor friends.<\/p>\n

I have wanted to do this project for years, but just never seemed to get\u00a0organized in time to pull it off.\u00a0\u00a0Once I saw that we were reclaiming our Sunday evening,\u00a0 we managed to\u00a0pull it off.\u00a0 Our biggest problem was finding a rock to do the job.\u00a0 I asked the kids if they knew if we had a rock about this big. (Imagine me holding my two hands together to form a circle.)\u00a0 The response was swift.\u00a0“Oh, I think Johnathan could work.” Wow! I had forgotten about him.<\/p>\n

Johnathan is a “pet” rock that was actually a gift to Reed’s garden from Grandpa Phil and Grandma Rhoda.\u00a0 Since his arrival he has had appearances in many practical jokes, play times, and sometimes family dinners.\u00a0 Remember I stated that imagination is a big part of my (and subsequently my children’s) existence, so it didn’t faze me at all that there was a rock in the back yard with a big name.\u00a0 And no, Johnathan isn’t\u00a0the only inanimate object around here that has a name and personality.\u00a0 (My kids will never have to worry about\u00a0the definition of personification in school.)<\/p>\n

I don’t know exactly who, but someone, dug Johnathan out from his winter hiding spot, and the fun began after supper.\u00a0\u00a0We gathered pots, potting soil, grass seed,\u00a0twigs, thread, and water.\u00a0 What we created was a\u00a0table sized Calvary garden.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Everyone participated.\u00a0 Even\u00a0though we know that Johnathan has no feelings, we all surged with pride when we realized what a big job he\u00a0has this week.\u00a0 What we didn’t expect was how much fun\u00a0it was to just slow down and do\u00a0something creative together while focusing on the symbolism of our little garden.<\/p>\n

But isn’t that\u00a0similar to our own faith journeys?\u00a0 How many times do we hustle along, only to get stuck in a rut and then can’t figure out what to do?\u00a0 More than a piece of granite that has very little connection to our lives, we have the Rock of Ages that can bolster us by providing hope . . . if only we turn to him.\u00a0 Rather than a\u00a0cold piece of stone, we have the one, true, LIVING God who cares about us and wants us to remember his name.\u00a0\u00a0He longs for us to call on him.\u00a0 \u00a0I think deep down I know that is why I love Easter so much, because it is the time each year\u00a0that I renew my strength by remembering . . . “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand!”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Idealism alert:\u00a0 <\/strong>For anyone who thinks that this project went without a hitch, we will also confess that for a\u00a0bit we only had two crosses, because Huckleberry (our dog) thought sticks in the house looked mighty tasty.\u00a0 Of course, Sawyer soothed our dismayed emotions by explaining that Huck just thought that it was terrible how Jesus died and he didn’t want a reminder of it.<\/p>\n

How to’s: <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>We used a shallow pot that the kids have for creating fairy and gnome gardens in the summer.\u00a0 Fill the pot about 2\/3 full of potting soil and place the smaller pot on it’s side.\u00a0 Play around with the location because you want a good spot for the rock (Johnathan for us!) to be able to roll. Once you are set on location, add your stone.\u00a0 Now add more potting soil over the smaller pot to create the hill.\u00a0 Take 3 small twigs and break them to create crosses.\u00a0 We used sewing thread to tie them together into cross shapes.\u00a0 Secure them in the soil around your hill.\u00a0 Next add grass seed.\u00a0 Water liberally.\u00a0 Water twice every day to encourage sprouting.\u00a0 Good Friday seal your tomb.\u00a0 Easter morning, roll the stone away.\u00a0 He is Risen!<\/p>\n

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Over the next few days, I am planning a countdown to my most favorite holiday.\u00a0 Each and every year, I stand in awe of what actually took place on that\u00a0hill almost two thousand years ago.\u00a0 At church, our pastor has a sermon series on the the last words\/phrases of Christ.\u00a0 It has been amazing and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}