In Search of The Granny Egg

Every Easter our family has a traditional Easter Egg Hunt after our lunch has settled and we can no longer endure the kids begging us to hide eggs for them.  Several years ago my dad started hiding a Golden Egg that has the one thing inside that gets the teenagers involved in the hunt - CASH!  I remember one rainy Easter when it was too wet to go outside, my dad hid the egg in the house.  Every child, teenager and adult ripped through cabinets, drawers, closets and couch cushions in search of the prize.  My sweet mama threatened to put an end to the Easter Bunny if he EVER hid another egg in her house!  I'm pretty sure she said EVER in all caps.

This year the Golden Egg was renamed the Granny Egg in honor of my grandmother who is in a rehab facility and was unable to join us for the weekend. The boundaries of the hidden eggs were given and the kiddos were off to the hunt.  All the small, empty (yes, empty because MRS. Easter Bunny failed to fill them with candy) plastic eggs were found, but the Granny Egg was still up for grabs.  Everyone was begging and bribing my daddy to give them hints as to where the prized egg might be hiding.  He finally specified a small area of the yard and said, "Everyone of you have walked within an arms length of the Granny Egg."  Now it was on!  Fifteen people hovering in one small area leaving no blade of grass unturned.  The little kids gave up.  The teenagers grew frustrated and began whining, "Papaw, just tell us where it is!"

Just when things were getting tense we heard, "I found it!"  Jayleen, our neighbor and unofficially adopted family member, held up the Granny Egg with a great big grin on his face.  While everyone was looking in the easy and obvious places, Jayleen was thinking about Papaw's clue.  He dove head first into the large azalea bush that was within an arms length of all of us, looked underneath it's limbs and a strategically placed pink blossom, and came out with the giant egg.



"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares The Lord, Jeremiah 29:13,14a.

The Granny Egg wasn't hidden so that it would never be found.  It was hidden in order to be found.  But we had to search for it.  The heart and the purposes of God are found the same way.  They are hidden and must be discovered.  The hunt can be fun or it can be frustrating.  We can get bored or we can stay engaged.  We can beg and bribe the Hider to just give us the prize or we can listen to his directions and trust that the prize is worth the hunt.  We can get mad and jealous when others find their Granny Egg or we can rejoice because we're all on this journey together and the GRAND prize is big enough for all of us.

Incidentally, an egg from last year (which Mrs. Easter Bunny HAD filled with candy) was discovered buried underneath some shrubbery.  What would have been a treat a year ago, was melted, decayed and rotten.  Some treasures aren't meant to stay hidden.

The Empty Tomb

Every year our pastor calls a church wide fast during Lent.  We are asked to fast things as a church, corporately.  We are also asked to fast things individually, like certain food items or entertainments.  I usually begin preparing my heart and my mind for the fast shortly after the new year.  The discipline of unplugging from the world and getting my body, soul and spirit into proper alignment is something I really look forward to each year. 

This year my fast was a flop.  It started out great but two weeks into it spiritual attack came from every side and I could not stand.  The things I chose to sacrifice became familiar comforts to me.  My body fatigued, my will weakened and my spirit submitted to my flesh.  For 40 days a spotlight seemed to shine on my sin.  I was so aware of my sin nature.  My thoughts, words, actions, motives, and emotions seemed to fall short on every level and I felt powerless to gather them up and wage war against them.

An Easter craft my mom did with the kids Sunday afternoon

This morning I was deeply convicted of an attitude that has invaded my heart.  It is ugly and it is dangerous.  As I was confessing my sin I thought, "This is what the cross means to me.  This is the beauty of that empty tomb."  I can sit on my couch in the early hours of the morning and pour out my heart to my God.  I am assured that He hears me, forgives me, cleanses me, and empowers me to overcome.  Excitement arises in my spirit!  This is the difference between the days before the cross and the days after the cross.  The days before the cross brought an awareness of my sin and a return to familiar vices to ease the sting.  The days after the cross still bring an awareness of my sin, but with it comes the hope of change.  I have power to defeat this nasty attitude and every other sin that comes under the spotlight.  My heart sings loud an anthem of celebration that we sang at church this past Easter Sunday...

The stone was rolled away

His perfect love could not be overcome

Now death where is your sting

Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated

Kari Jobe - Forever

Rugged, Yet Elegant

Many years ago I read a book that asked the question, "What are your husband's dreams?"  It issued a challenge to let your husband's dreams become your dreams. The question stopped me dead in my tracks.  I had no answer.  Through many years of our marriage I was so focused on just surviving the moment and trying to achieve my own personal dreams, that I never stopped to ask Ted about his dreams.  I guess I assumed they were similar to mine.

My life dreams consisted of women's ministry and a large antebellum style home, complete with big, white columns and oversized windows that you could walk right through to get to the wrap around porch.  I dreamed of parlors that I could fill with guests and extra bedrooms where they could rest and renew their strength.  Something similar to this house I toured a few years back in Natchez, MS.  I can dream, right?

I hesitantly asked my husband the question, half expecting him to say he'd never really thought about it.  "What is your dream?"  I was stunned when I heard the answer.   It was not at all what I expected.  His dream?  A hundred acres with a cabin and a lake.  WHAT?  No antebellum house?  No white columns?  No live oak trees ushering me down a long winding driveway?  Oh, dear!  Our future seemed to be going in opposite directions. 

I was speechless.  All I managed to get out was, "Really?"  I am certain my face showed my disappointment and my horror.  A cabin?  A lake? Woods?  But I was more horrified that I had never even thought about asking him this question.  My heart ached with grief over my own self-centeredness.  My husband, who had always supported everything I had set my mind to do, had never even voiced the secret desire of his heart.  That very day I began praying, "Let my husband's dreams become my dreams."  It is amazing to me how God can change a heart when it is yielded to Him.  A heart that is determined not to go its own way but to surrender its will.  

Over the course of time the thought of a cabin in the middle of the woods began to appeal to me.  I even gave up the idea of hosting parties and weekend retreats, for the idea of being lulled to sleep by the serenade of crickets and bullfrogs.

Earlier this year my dreamer found his promised land.  I was a little skeptical as he drove me to the middle of nowhere to view what was to be my future.  It is indeed all that he ever wanted.  But what reveals the faithfulness and goodness of God is, that it's all I ever wanted, too. 

There are small live oak trees that escort me down a long winding driveway.  The wrap around porch has a bonus tucked in the back corner - a swing bed overlooking the lake.  

The cabin has plenty of room for those weekend retreats and parties that I've dreamed of hosting.  It doesn't have large white columns.  Instead, the cabin is built around beams that came from an old bridge just down the road.  I can't seem to take my eyes off of them.
I think those old beams just might be my favorite part of this place. They are so rugged and rustic, but somehow seem to add a touch of elegance.  Rugged, yet elegant.  The perfect symbol of our two dreams.