If you’ve read anything I’ve written in the past few weeks, you’ll probably notice that simple is my motto. The only way that I’ll accomplish anything is if I keep it short, sweet, and a little bit flawed. And I kind of like it that way.
With it being Holy Week this week, I wanted to do at least a couple of things to make the specialness of Easter stick in Dash’s head. Based on the sweet fruit I’ve seen come from our simple activities and conversations, he is starting to get the true meaning of Easter. My heart could not be more full as I listen to the questions he’s asking.
I used to worry so much about trying to create the most adorable crafts and plan the coolest activities the online world had to offer when it came to teaching Dash, but life and grace have taught me something far greater. God truly makes everything beautiful in His time. Just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for me or my child. That doesn’t mean I give up completely, it just means I stop hyperventilating and teach as we live life.
For us, that’s meant a lot of conversations where I relate something he’s interested in with truths from God’s Word. It’s also meant making sure he’s involved in the wonderful classes and programs our church offers for kids his age. I’ve seen him really flourish from being in that environment. In the end, what I want is for his faith to be real. If that means we don’t have dozens of cute crafts to show how we celebrated each of his early holidays, that is okay.
This Christmas and Easter have been the first holidays he’s acted interested in anything “project” related, so I was very excited when I found this idea on Pinterest. It was something that I could prep as we talked and cut paper together plus I had all of the supplies on hand. (As a side note, don’t you love all of the dinosaurs covering the floor in the background?)
This project was a culmination of several conversations we’ve been having about Easter over the past several weeks. It was really neat and funny to watch him put it all together here. If you’re in the mood from some adorable 3-year-old chatter, you can watch the video of him telling the Easter story here. I drew some stick men on paper to represent Jesus & the angel. See? I told you that simple and flawed were part of how I roll.
It wouldn’t be a complete Easter story from a three-year-old’s perspective if I didn’t tell you that after I drew the “bad guys” he requested at the end of the video, he proceeded to draw a sword for Jesus to use to fight the bad guys. Or that Jesus then saw fit to knock the poor, innocent dinosaur setting next to him on the table onto the floor. But the main facts have been planted in his heart, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch them come out in the midst of silliness.
Happy Easter everyone! What special thing(s) are you doing to celebrate with your family this year?
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I did the easter activity I found on whenyourise.come with my 2 yr old this year. She loved it! And your story about Jesus and the dinosaurs made me think about how after we went through the whole story a few times with the Jesus puppet, Samara wanted to also lay on the cross, get wrapped up in the cloths and lay inside the tomb…and then the angel puppet had to go through it all as well. But it is all good when I hear her talking about how Jesus is ‘wive’ again 🙂
Simple is how I roll, too! I’m also cracking up about Jesus knocking over the dinosaur. That is SO something my boys would do. But I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t mean they aren’t getting the story – they’re just being boys. They pick up so much, so quickly, and it is revealed to us (the tired, non-crafty moms) in God’s own beautiful time.