Easter – Page 2 – The Bless Your Heart Blog

Easter Advent: Thursday

***Find previous Easter Advent entries here, here, here and here.***

As Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was full of sorrow. He knew the excruciating pain he was about to suffer as we would take the punishment for every wrong thing anybody had ever done (or would ever do). He knew the weight of what His shoulders would hold and of the heartache that stemmed from all of the sin, brokenness and pain in people’s hearts.

With death awaiting Him, He could’ve prayed a thousand different things – most, probably selfish in nature. Wouldn’t you? If you knew death was knocking on your door, wouldn’t you be pleading or screaming or flat out running away? In that moment though, Jesus prayed with a heart full of trust and submission…“Not my will, but Yours be done.”

Wow. So often we pray differently, don’t we? Our sinful nature likes to pray things that we deem ‘best’ for us, not necessarily what the Lord has for us. His way is always best and we should trust that truth, just as Jesus did.

Garden Prayer

Read: Mark 14:32-42 Luke 22:39-53

Do: Memorize scripture.

—Not my will, but yours be done. Luke 22:42

—Sing it, eat a piece of candy for each word, create a hand motion for a set of words – whatever it takes, memorize it!

Pray: Lord, thank you that we can pray to you about everything. Help us to pray for Your will to be done in every situation.

Easter Advent: Wednesday

We’re on day four of our Easter Advent series and I hope you and your family have been blessed by this experience. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are still up so feel free to go back and do them or just pick up here!

A Time to Remember

The Last Supper was a beautiful symbol of what was to come in the life and death of Jesus. He knew His death was imminent and even though His disciples didn’t quite understand, He wanted to make sure they would always remember Him and His sacrifice.

While they were eating the Passover meal, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He broke it and gave it to the disciples saying, “Take it and eat, for this is my body.” Then he took the cup and gave thanks. He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, for this is my blood poured out to forgive the sins of many.”

This same act is a wonderful reminder to each of us of Christ’s sacrifice and love…

Read: Matthew 26:17-30 Mark 14:12-26

Do: Have a time of remembrance.

— Break bread and drink juice together and talk about how Jesus’ body was broken and His blood poured out for us.

—Really take time to remember how Jesus has saved us eternally and how He’s saving us daily from our sinful selves.

Pray: Lord, thank you for loving me enough to die for me. Help me to always remember Your body that broke and Your blood that was poured out.

Easter Advent: Tuesday

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.

That was the first Bible verse Sawyer ever learned (and before she was two years old, to boot).

Humble Servant

As Jesus and His disciples met in the upper room before the Passover Feast, He put that service into action. Knowing His time was near, He got up and performed a job that was usually done by the lowliest of servants…He washed the disciples’ feet.

My sister/friend Tredessa and I have given free pedicures to some of inner city Denver’s inhabitants as part of a city-wide outreach and it was a pretty humbling, and sometimes uncomfortable, experience. Feet aren’t always the prettiest, neatest, cleanest parts of God’s creation. Can you imagine the feet of the disciples?? They couldn’t have been any better, yet Jesus washed them and dried them and showed them great care…and His actions ran deeper than just His physical touch. He knew they needed to be washed clean in their hearts.

Through this selfless act of service, Jesus set an example for us to follow. The King of Kings acted as the lowest of low and asks us to do the same.

Read: John 13:1-17

Watch: Jesus washes the disciples’ feet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmtAMUuFfkk

Do: Wash each others’ feet!

— Get a small pan of water and take turn serving each other by washing each others’ feet. Talk about how Jesus did this very thing and think of ways that your family can humbly serve others.

Pray: Lord, teach us to be more like you. Let us be sensitive to ways that we can serve others every day.

**Sidenote**

My favorite part of this whole exchange is when Peter all but refuses to allow Jesus to wash his feet.

John, 13:6 starts: He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

And so Peter answers, “Then Lord, not just my feet but my hands and head as well.”

In that moment, he got it. If this is what it takes to be a part of You then I submit all of me to you; not just what you’re asking…all of me. So beautiful. Lord, I wanna live a life like this…

Easter Advent: Monday

**If you missed yesterday, do not fret! Either backtrack and do two lessons today or just pick up here!**

Extravagant Love

Love makes us do rash things sometimes, doesn’t it?? Wrex and I stayed up waaaaaaaay too late last night visiting and as we discussed it this morning he said, “We’ve have had the problem since the day we met, haven’t we?” (Insert big, cheesey grin here.) It’s a true statement. During the beginnings of our relationship, we’d spend time together until the dorms closed and then we’d talk on the phone to each other well into the morning…morning as in, time to go to class. We were just so enamored with each other and we threw caution to the wind when it came to logic/rest/responsibilities the next day. The same could be said of Mary of Bethany…

In the days that followed, Jesus went about His teachings. While in Bethany, Mary got a wild hair and anointed the feet of Jesus. She took an expensive perfume, broke open the jar, poured it on His feet and wiped them with her hair. Can you even imagine?! What a incredible, and somewhat crazy, gesture!

Those around them grew angry that she would waste something so expensive; they thought she should’ve sold it and given the money to the poor. Jesus came to her defense and told them what a beautiful thing she had done. Her actions remind us that following Jesus sometimes means throwing caution to the wind in overwhelming outpourings of love and compassion – extravagant, extreme love.

Read: Mark 14:1-10 John 12:1-11

Watch and Do: Worship the Lord

— Show Him love by taking time to worship Him with song and dance! Take the time to prepare your hearts and rid the room of distractions…clear 15 minutes of your schedule JUST to praise Him. (For moms, that IS extravagant, yes?!)

We chose to worship to Hosanna, Jesus is Alive, and Amazing Grace.

Pray: Lord, we love you! Help us to love you extravagantly and without caution – You are so deserving of that kind of love because that’s how You love us.

Easter Advent: Palm Sunday

Save for Sawyer’s very first Easter, we’ve done an Easter advent of sorts with her. It’s been a great tool for her (and us) to learn even more about Jesus and to prepare our hearts regarding the significance of the Easter holiday.

Each day, from now until Easter, I’ll post the advent activity that we’ll be doing in our home and I encourage you to check in and do the same! It’ll be good, clean, faith building fun. 🙂

The Triumphant Entry

As a Bible believing Christian, the death of resurrection of Jesus is quintessential to our faith and His entrance into Jerusalem is most definitely a part of that story. If you think about it though, there wasn’t anything that was really “triumphant” or noble or victorious about his journey into Jerusalem. He was riding a donkey…not even a horse, people…a donkey! He didn’t have an army of men surrounding Him, just a bunch of ordinary people who would turn their backs on Him in a few days; the people shouting “Hosanna” would later shout “crucify Him!” The man who was decorated as “king of Israel” would be brutally beaten and killed in five days. Doesn’t seem very triumphant, does it?

Oh, but it was! That entry was the beginning of the greatest triumph ever made in known history – the defeat of death. No one, other than Jesus, has ever been able to gain victory over death; it simply could not contain Him. I’d call that triumphant…

Read: Mark 11:1-11 Matthew 21:1-11

Watch: Praise Parade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq64oLGugp8

Do: Act out the triumphant entry!

— Make palm branches out of construction paper. We traced hands to make the leaves and glued them to a tongue depressor.

— Take turns having someone be the donkey (or get a toy horse), Jesus and the crowd.

— Wave your branches and shout “Hosanna! Hosanna to the King! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Pray: Lord, thank you for being our King. Thank you for coming to save us. You are the God who saves!