Regrets to Relief
“What are you going to do with all of those colored eggs?”
“We’re going to fill them with confetti and make confetti eggs or they’re also called cascarones. Then the kids smash them on each others’ heads at Easter.”
My ninety-one year old mother looked at me as if this made no sense. The evening before Mother, my twenty year-old daughter Kellyn, and I dipped dozens of hollowed-out egg shells in various color solutions dying the shells and the tips of our fingers in the process. Cartons of brightly colored eggshells were stacked on a nearby table.
“What are you going to do with all of those colored eggs?” she asked again.
“We’re going to fill them with confetti and make confetti eggs.
Again, she returned a facial expression of complete senselessness.
I stuck an old VHS tape in the player and let home movies roll as we filled dozens of eggs.
“Mother, there’s another Easter party. See them smashing the eggs?”
She enjoyed filling the eggs while I followed her work with a small piece of tissue paper to glue over the opening securing the confetti inside.
Sandwiched between Christmases, birthdays and trampoline marathons were our annual Easter parties with bunny-hop races, face painting, and yes, confetti eggs. I had a sense of regret that I didn’t use the opportunity to focus on the true meaning of Easter and less on the bunny and eggs. Why hadn’t I included a story time of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection? I could have distributed coloring sheets with the visual story, but I didn’t. I thought about lost opportunities of sharing the good news of what Jesus means to the world. I beat myself up about it for a few days.
Later I thought of the story of Jesus celebrating in Cana at a traditional Jewish wedding. For seven days guests feasted on lamb, delicacies, wine and dance. The groom’s family ran out of wine and Jesus seeing a need performed a miracle changing water into wine. It was not His time to share about the Kingdom of heaven. I realized there are times for pure celebration.
9 Simple Steps to Making Confetti Eggs (cascarones)
- Gently break the pointed tip of an egg and peel some of the eggshell away.
- Pour the egg contents out (and use them in your cooking!)
- Rinse the egg shell with water and allow to thoroughly dry.
- Color the eggs shells with tablets found in the Easter décor section of a store.
- Allow to thoroughly dry.
- Fill eggs with paper confetti (found in the party section of a store or with Easter décor)
- Cut small pieces of wrapping tissue.
- Use a cotton-tipped swab (Q-tip) to apply craft glue around the edge of the opening.
- Place the tissue paper over the opening and gently press around the edges of the hole to secure.
Today Could Be My Last
I heard the sound of impact, crushing metal, and then a long steady horn that never stopped. In films before the days of air bags in cars a long steady horn meant the driver was dead against the steering wheel. I was just pulling into my driveway. My daughter came running out of the house saying, “I heard it. It’s the next block over.” Neighbors streamed out of their houses and down the street as the monotone sound of the horn continued.
We quickly joined the gathering crowd of people, most with mobile phones to their ears. As I got closer to the overturned SUV, the one with the blaring horn I asked, bracing myself for the answer, “Is there still someone inside?” At the same time, a man boldly walked up, squatted down, and peered through the back window. A bystander talking on her mobile phone replied, “No that’s her sitting on the curb. She crawled out the window. I witnessed the accident” and went right back to her phone conversation.
Just this morning I read in Chapter Two of the book, “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan: “You could die before you finish this chapter. Today. At any moment.” The author states how we go about living each day caught up in ourselves and don’t consider God very much. “On the average day, we forget that our life is truly a vapor.”
The accident less than a block from my house, pardon the pun, really drove home the point, “today could be the day.”
Two Years Later…
Gulf of Argos, Greece
I just completed a scrapbook of a family trip to Greece. Mind you, I started it while I was in Greece in May 2009, nearly two years ago. During the evenings after we had spent the day sightseeing I downloaded the pictures from our three cameras, organized and edited them, and then created digital pages. (All made simple using Creative Memories Memory Manager and StoryBook Creator Plus!)
I was so excited the day after returning home to pick up seventeen completed 12×12 digital pages from our local Costco. What an untypical way to answer the typical “How was your trip?” Then “life happened” and I didn’t get around to finishing the scrapbook until now.
My goal this year is to completely catch up on my albums and then continue to stay caught up. So far I’m doing pretty well and it feels so good! I feel s a deep sense of accomplishment when I’ve captured memories and stories in my scrapbooks.
I’ve found that the only way to meet this goal is to set aside the time or I will always have something else more pressing to do. What about you, what is keeping you from telling your stories?
Some People Just Don’t Get It
During my parents’ “twilight years” they lived in a retirement community of houses, apartments, and a nursing home. As members of the auxiliary they volunteered on a regular basis.
On Thursday mornings they worked their way down the wing of the nursing home serving orange juice for those wanting it. I know my dad. He went about his work systematically asking people if they wanted orange juice, poured a cup, and then promptly moved on to the next room. On the other side of the corridor, my mother’s approach was to ask, “How are you today?” and then patiently listens. Her response was often an encouraging word, a gentle touch, or reassuring smile. Finally she asked, “Would you like some orange juice?”
One time my dad remarked, “I don’t know what takes Sarah so long.” I responded, “Daddy, when you get to heaven Jesus is going to set you straight on relationships. It’s not about pouring orange juice.”
Often we approach our relationship with God in a similar manner. We talk to Him in prayer and don’t listen. We go about our day systematically checking off our list any Christian action, Bible study and other tasks we consider to be a “good Christian” or “spiritual.”
For example, when I am involved in a Bible study and answering the presented questions, I must consciously absorb and apply the reading or I am merely going through the motions of reading, answering a question, and then moving on.
What about you, do you get it?
