Tomorrow is Easter, and if God gives me the breath of life for the day, I will do what I do every Easter since my Mom died.
I will get up early and go to church. I will arrive about 6:15am and the place will already be beautiful. I will shake lots of hands and preach 4 sermons.
If things hold true as in years past, I will feel more nervous than normal about the message and how it is received. Easter is like game day for preachers. It is almost like every other Sunday is practice. Now that is not true, every other Sunday matters a ton, but there is a lot of nervous pressure on Easter. It is kind of funny when you think about it, because the message is always the same. Jesus is risen. That is the Easter message. Just preach it, preacher. There is no other story for Easter.
After church I will go home and change clothes. We will drive out to Olathe to Cathy's parents house. We used to all go in one car, but now, who knows. Two or three probably. Everyone can drive now.
At Grandma's house, the women will sit in the kitchen and talk loudly. And they will all talk at the same time. The men will sit in the other room and watch golf.
I have a question. If Grandpa is still alive, and he is, why is the place just called Grandma's house? Like Grandpa is a squatter or something.
There will be an egg hunt for the little ones. Food. Honey baked ham and the trimmings. There will be at least one nap for me somewhere on one of Grandma's couches. Later there will be board games and laughing. Then, everyone goes home. All in all, it is a very good day.
Something that has come my way in the last year is that Aunt Lavonne doesn't drive anymore. So, it has fallen to me to pick her up. She lives in North Kansas City. I have really come to enjoy this. She is so pleasant, and she is so appreciative of little things like me opening the car door for her. On the drive to Olathe and back, she tells me stories about when she was young and who she was married to, and when that bridge over the river wasn't even there. It is a very enriching experience for me to spend time with her.
Well, that is Easter. He is risen. Tomorrow.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
5 comments:
Except for the nervousness about preaching tomorrow, your plans sound very similar to ours. It is just "Grandma's house" here now, but nothing else has changed--family comes here and always has, even before anyone called it Grandma's house. In answer to your question though, it's possible that even the very young people in our lives see that Grandma does the cooking, the cleaning and most of the entertaining and that probably gives her a little more "ownership" of the house in their eyes--possibly.
You'll do great tomorrow, you always do. And we'll hear the nervousness and emotion in your voice, but it'll be okay because we already know the message and we'll be comfortable with the fact that we're not the one up there delivering it.
Have a wonderful Easter
Never fear, my friend. In all the time I have known you and listened to you preach, you have never given a sermon that wasn't meaningful! Betty
May God Bless You and your Family.
HE IS RISEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GREG
Jeff, when I awoke this morning I said a prayer for you and the other staff members. I asked God to give you strength for such a big day. I know Easter and Christmas services are exhausting, but rewarding.
God bless. And driving Aunt (Daisy) is sure to help relieve the stress of the morning. What fun.
That sounds so much like my family too. Jeff--NEWS BREAK--YOU ARE NORMAL, YOUR FAMILY IS NORMAL. AMEN This year was a little different for me--we made a bigger issue of Jesus and even my 5 year old thanked me for her Easter Basket--Was not much discussion of the Easter Bunny and not a sign that the Easter Bunny was missed. I filled baskets w/ books and trinkets and of course new toothbrushes (that's a given at my house). This year I had to call Grandma--she had a stroke several years ago and I'm lucky if she can speak loudly enough for me to hear. But her caregivers delight in "everyone coming to Grandma's House" every Sunday lunch, holidays and Monday soup night, followed by card games and laughter too. The only thng that has changed is that we don't get all the fancy dishes. We keep it informal-there are too many of us. When my grandfather passed away in 1990 her most intimate conversation to me was that she thought "people would stop coming and that she would be alone"-grandpa always did the entertaining--19 years later it's still Grandma's house--and one thing for sure is it's filled with LOVE-- unconditionally! Lynn
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