The Greatest Easter Gift

My mother has always had a creative side to her. Several years ago at Christmas she decided instead of going out and buying gifts for us kids and our spouses she would just give us cash. Now most would spend hours looking for the perfect card to put the money in and write a short sweet note. Not my mother. She spends hours trying to find something she can hide the money in. A couple of years the money was hid in different places in the house. My favorite year was when she gave us a reindeer that when you moved his tail it shot out black gumballs out of well, let's say it shot them out of the south side when it was facing the north. Mom had rolled the money up as small as she could and stuffed it up the south side the north facing reindeer. So we had to stick our fingers in the south side and pull out the money all the while my dad was making comments about how when we were little we thought he could do that anytime we wanted money. My mother cried from laughing so hard at us. She has done the small box inside a small box inside a small box inside a small box inside a small box thing a few times. She has placed the money inside gift tissue and stuffed it into a small bag so it looked like you had an empty bag until you searched the tissue. I do not know what is more fun, trying to find the money or spending the money. To me the greatest part is knowing my mother loved me so much that she spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the gift special.

Every year as I open the gifts and I watch my wife, sister and brother-n-law open theirs I keep wondering how funny it would be if one year one of them, not me, went through all that trouble of opening the gift and found nothing. An empty box with not money. That would be frustrating to get an empty box for Christmas, especially after you had to work to open it. How would you feel if that was truly your gift? Nothing but space. All the gift boxes around you have something but now yours. I can hear people from all over shouting, "That would be the worse Christmas ever!" That may be true but it also made for the BEST Easter ever. An empty tomb that is.

Think about it. The ladies came expecting to find a tomb with the body of Jesus in it. All the other tombs in the world had bodies so should this one. They were worried about moving the big rock that shut off the tomb. They worried about getting by all large army of men keeping an eye on the tomb. When they got there all that was taken care of. When they got there the tomb was EMPTY!!! That meant that Jesus was not there. He AROSE! The worst Christmas present may be an empty box but the greatest Easter present was an empty tomb.

Do you remember what I said the greatest part of my Christmas gift from my mother was? How could you not remember it was only two paragraphs ago.? Go ahead and look back. It is in the last line of the first paragraph. The sentence begins with, "To me the greatest..." Ok, now let me tell you the greatest part about the greatest Easter gift. Just like my mother takes lots of time and effort to give me my Christmas gift my Heavenly Father took lots of time planning and arranging my greatest Easter gift. Just like my mother, He did it out of His love for me.

This Easter thank God for nothing. What? I know that is what you said. Thank Him for what was found in the tomb that first Easter morning, nothing. Thank Him that not only did He send Jesus to die for our sins but He sent Him to arise again so that He can sit on the right hand of God and be our intercessory. Easter is not about the Easter Bunny or colored eggs or jellybeans (not even my favorite the Starburst kind) or even about Easter Breakfast it is about a risen Savior. Spend time this Easter thinking God for the risen Savior. He is alive, He is alive, He is alive!!!!

Parting Thought: Men having feelings too. For example, right now I am feeling hungry.