Easter, A Creative Collage

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around 

you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely

places.  Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. 

Roald Dahl

The information I had when I was a child about Easter was rather morbid.  The crucifixion of Christ was difficult for me to ponder.  The good news of course was Jesus Christ appearing after death.  In this stage of my life, I believed everything I was taught in the religious environment.  I didn't know about pagan practices, or cultural myths prior to the existence of Christianity that were patterned the same.  I had no knowledge of Goddesses or women vital in religious history who had been reduced to just one ... the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

I must confess my love for the stations of cross during Lent.  It was a personal sacred time for me in spite of not being catholic.  As a sensitive person, I wept many times during the weekend for all of the religiously historical people involved in this troubling painful weekend.

As an adult, having broader knowledge of history, I was still mindful of the Candle light Easter vigil. The church was always dark and everyone held candles.  It was a quiet time for me to examine, rearrange, and embrace the truths I now held for religion.

With the four children, I loved coloring Easter eggs with food coloring and waxy crayons.  This of course was followed by hiding the hard boiled eggs all over the house, hoping all would be found.  The trick was to hide some in challenging places to engage the eldest child and still leave some in obvious places for the youngest child.  There were baskets, family dinners, and church of course.  

Easter comes to me as creative collage.  As I gather various memories together, there is a colorful blend of love, pain, and spiritual development.  I rather think of religion as a noun and spirituality as a verb, and I have a tendency to prefer moving around in life, not sitting in one church.  My belief system embraces not only Easter and other holidays, but all days.   Every corner of earth and each day is sacred to me.