Monday 28 March 2016

A Not Quite Perfect Easter Breakfast... And Why It Doesn't Matter...


It was one of those occasions I had all planned out in my head. We would come downstairs, dressed and ready for the day, sit around the table together, eating poached eggs and hot cross buns and read the Easter story together. A celebration of the event that stands at the heart of our faith, and an opportunity to teach our children...

Except that these things never quite go to plan, do they?

It started well... The clock change meant that Jonas and I were up earlier than everyone else. My little early riser and I snuck down the stairs to the table I'd laid the night before... He sat on the rug and played happily while I grabbed some photos in the early morning light. It was serene, and peaceful and I pottered around making it all beautiful and ready for the rest of the family. My own heart filled with joy and the rememberance of the day. There is something about Easter Sunday.. It gets me every year...

Thunder above. They were up.


Jonas and I headed back upstairs, everyone got dressed, showered, and fifteen minutes later, we were ready to head down the stairs for the second time.

And we had some delighted little children...


Their joy was effervescent, meaning that they were slightly more rowdy than usual. A sudden dawning that the clock change meant Jonas had needed to go down for his nap five minutes ago if there was any hope of a sleep before church meant a rushed down breakfast for him before I nipped upstairs to tuck him back into bed. By the time I came down, the girls had wolfed down their breakfasts and were asking to get down from the table before Dave and I had even sat down, and the cherry on top was that the toaster kept blowing it's fuse, meaning we had only half-toasted hot cross buns!


"This is not the plan!" I thought to myself! "This is not the sit down, family celebration I had envisioned!" One child was asleep, two were finished, and Dave was still sorting out his own breakfast as I tucked into mine!


A few stern words were spoken... I'm not going to lie. Two little girls did stay at the table, though on very wriggly bottoms... And only really calmed down once the Easter story began. Yes, the Easter story which Jonas missed completely.

But do you know what?

That's real life! Parenting in its rawest form. When dreams are dashed, and reality disappoints... You realise that often out of the "ashes" comes true beauty.

And that is exactly the heart of the Easter Story... Beauty from brokenness... Life from death... Joy from sorrow... Jesus: battered, tortured, murdered - gloriously risen from the grave, leaving an empty tomb behind him!

So as I read that Easter story in the hurry before church, in amongst the fusing toaster, sleeping baby and excitable girls, and husband still clearing up the mess in the kitchen... I realised again that the Easter story is the greatest "out of the ashes" story ever told.

From his death, I get life. From his suffering, I get freedom. Jesus is alive! So bring on the messes, the muddles and the slightly less than perfect. They are a daily reminder of my need for resurrection hope!

And here was our little Easter bunny re-nap!




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6 comments:

  1. Oh the best laid plans ...! It sounds perfect in its imperfections though, and oh so familiar to life with three little ones. I hope the rest of the day was more serene but just as much fun!

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    1. It's all part of th parenting experience, don't you think?! The rest of the day was slightly less chaotic thankfully! Although I'm kind of hoping clock change never falls on Easter Sunday again!

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  2. Sorry but I love this post. How things we plan in our heads don't go to plan, due to busy family lives/households. It's so true. This is our household all the time. Lol. Nothing ever plain sailing and how I'd picture it but we kind of just go with flow. X

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  3. Charlotte Whymark28 March 2016 at 13:09

    It's good to know we are not alone, We had the same Easter morning, Bodhi ready to go back to bed and Amelie just wanting to start the Easter egg hunt before the rest of the family arrived! Xx

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  4. Love this! I also had great ideas of a perfect Easter Sunday with beautiful children, but a vomiting big and some potty training accidents meant my 2 girls went to church looking scruffy rather than the catalogue children I had imagined! However we still made it and they had a lovey family day x

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  5. I am impressed that you can get three children washed and dressed in 15 minutes!! I had similar dreams of a perfect good friday, going to see the re-enactment in town which always makes me cry. Except the three year old was in tears because she didn't want to stand around, she wanted to go shopping... We ended up in McDonalds. :( Never mind, we did spend about 45 minutes reading the Bible at home and they were fascinated by the Easter story in its original form. We carried on all the way to Pentecost at their request.

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