Jesus | Texting the Truth

Six years ago, I started a simple little Easter tradition at our house. My oldest son had just turned two and I was very pregnant (and nauseous!? and exhausted!?) with my second. I felt like everywhere I turned, I was hearing and reading about other people’s amazingly creative and artistically beautiful plans to teach their kids about Easter.

I was intimidated by those ideas, didn’t think I had the energy or ability to pull them off, and wasn’t convinced my son would even understand the significance of Easter anyway.? So, I made up my own super simple and easy project.

I picked a different short story to read from a children’s Bible every day during the week leading up to Easter. After reading, I put a little object to represent that story into a plain old plastic bin. I left the bin out where my son could reach it. He looked through, played with, and talked about the objects whenever he wanted throughout the week. We called this our Easter Box.

Over the years, we’ve carried on our Easter Box tradition, although it hasn’t looked exactly the same every time. Last year I had all four of our kids decorate a little cardboard box to store our items in. Some years, we’ve missed a few days (or even the whole week!) because … well, life happens.? Now that my oldest two kids know how to read, we can add a few verses of Scripture after reading the children’s Bible story version. The depth of understanding and conversation has changed as my kids have grown. But the simplicity and flexibility of the process has stayed the same.

Here are the stories and objects we’ve typically used, along with the Scripture references. I have found I like to read best from the Beginner’s Bible, because the stories are short and straightforward for my young kids.

Palm Sunday

Story: The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11, Beginner’s Bible pg. 427-432)

Object: a palm leaf (either real or paper)

So far, my kids have always come home from Sunday School with some kind of palm leaf, which makes for a nice and easy start to our Easter Box? … and also leads to lots of parades and shouting of “Hosanna” throughout our house during the week leading up to Easter!?

Monday Story: Washing the Disciples Feet (John 13:1-15, Beginner’s Bible pg. 437-439)

Object: a washcloth

In the toddler stage, especially, each of my kids have loved pretending to wash Mommy and Daddy’s feet!

Tuesday Story: Passover/Last Supper (Luke 22:7-20, Beginner’s Bible pg. 442-445)

Object: a piece of toy bread

Wednesday Story: Judas’ Betrayal (Mark 14:10-11 & 43-46, Beginner’s Bible pg. 446)

Object: a quarter to represent the 30 pieces of silver

This part of the story totally went over my kids’ heads for years. They just had fun playing with a shiny coin. (Supervised to avoid any potential choking hazard.?) But, after years of just introducing this story, now my oldest son at least can understand some of what that betrayal really meant.

Thursday Story: Jesus’ Arrest and Crown of Thorns (John 18:12 & 19:1-3, Beginner’s Bible pg. 447-449)

Object: a tiny branch from one of our bushes with little prickles (nothing too sharp)

Friday Story: Crucifixion (Mark 15:33-39, Beginner’s Bible pg. 450-452)

Object: a cross made of two craft sticks

Saturday Story: Burial (Mark 15:42-47, Beginner’s Bible pg. 453)

Object: a rock to represent the stone in front of the tomb

Easter Sunday

Story: Resurrection (Luke 24:1-12, Beginner’s Bible pg. 454-458)

Object: a picture that my kids colored in Sunday School

An easy item to put in the bin again for the end of the week.??

Our Easter Box has become a fun yearly tradition. My kids don’t understand everything yet, but I know that I am planting seeds in their hearts. And they are having fun playing while we do it! I’m eager to see God help them understand more and more about the meaning of the Resurrection in the years to come.

What simple ways do you try to plant seeds of faith in your children’s hearts about the Easter story?

?Katie

To read our original Easter post entitled, Unscrambling Easter: Teaching Kids the Importance without the Pressure, click here.

To read our original Easter post full of lots of Easter resources to help plant seeds about Jesus, click here.

Desi

I just need to tell someone else about this… I had such a mom fail last night. As I was putting Eva to bed, I took her sippy cup downstairs to refill it.

(Background: I give her a sippy cup of water every night to take to bed and usually I end up refilling it in the dark, in the middle of the night, so I just rinse it out with water, fill it, and take it back to her.)

Michelle

Oh man, I think I see where this is going…

Desi

But tonight, I actually looked at it to clean it, and saw the top of the entire lid was full of mold! ?? Horrible! I could not believe it! It made me feel like a terrible mom! ?

Ashley

Oh no! You are NOT a terrible mom! I’ve had plenty of moments where I’ve felt the same way though, so I completely understand. But let’s focus on the keyword: MOMENTS. A very, brief period of time that doesn’t define you or who you are as a mother.

Desi

Well thank you for that. ? But she has been battling a sinus problem/snotty nose for the last 2 weeks and has not been able to get over it. Well, now I know why! I feel awful and like such a failure. ?

Michelle

I feel ya, girl. I would totally have internalized it the same way but you’re not a failure! Why do we let a little “failure” tell us how we doing as a mom? I am preaching to the choir because I totally do the same thing. ?

Ashley

Me tool! The other day Grace had been devouring bananas and apparently went to preschool and told her teachers her “poop was stuck.” I felt just like you — ahh! I completely, albeit accidentally, contributed to her not feeling good.

Desi

Oh dear. Don’t even get me started on poop stories… ? ?

Michelle

Haha, yes, that’s a whole other subject.? But let me tell ya, I struggle with focusing too much on all of the ways I am missing the mark as a mom.? I’m starting to realize how important it is to lean on God’s wisdom to help fill in the gaps and His grace to cover the daily “mom fails”.
So I say all of that to say, Des, I hope you can feel His grace today too! You’re a good mom!! Maybe we just need to shift our focus. ?

Desi

What do you mean?

Michelle

Well, I’ll speak for myself but I tend to focus so much on my mom fails and gloss over the ways I may be doing something well. If you think about it, that’s not how Jesus works.

Desi

Go on…

Michelle

He obviously sees our shortcomings, but He encourages us in a gracious way toward growth and change. He doesn’t keep bringing up our failures, but lets it drop for good. I personally need to embrace more of that. ?

Desi

Oh, AMEN, my friend. I think you’re right. It’s much easier to look at all my faults and “failures”. It’s almost as if I keep re-examining them as a way to punish myself to show I’m really sorry about what I’ve done.

I guess sometimes it’s easier to dwell on it than accept forgiveness. Instead, I need to accept God’s grace and forgiveness TO MYSELF and focus on the good things.

Ashley

Exactly! It can be such a struggle to accept that grace even though it’s completely paid for and there for the taking. So how do we change our focus from “fails” to “wins”?

Michelle

Well, wasn’t it Laura who mentioned how she has a separate journal for each kid and tries to write most nights about the things that that kid did or said or just good things of the day? What if we took a spin off of that and had a grateful journal – or even a chalkboard – to help us refocus on the good rather than all of the things that could be better?

Ashley

I like that idea a lot! I’ll kick us off — today I’m grateful for friends that I can share mold and poop stories with. In all honesty though, thankful to have friends to laugh with, cry with, and say “me too” with. ?

Desi

Amen! And I love that gratefulness idea. I need something tangible like that to help me change my focus. If Jesus isn’t focused on my “fails”, then I shouldn’t be either! ? ? And besides, maybe someday this will be one of those “famous” stories where she talks about the time when I tried to poison her. Ha! ? ?

Soaking in the Truth

Scripture to encourage you:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV)
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12, NIV)
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” (Ephesians 1:7-8, NLT).

Music to inspire you:

East is from the West by Casting Crowns
Fix My Eyes on You by For King & Country
Your Grace Finds Me by Matt Redman

Readings and Resources to come alongside of you:

Choose Love: A Mother’s Blessing Gratitude Journal by Crystal Paine – A journal idea with quotes and a few lines to write about the “blessing” for the day.
Choose Gratitude: Blessings Journal by Crystal Paine – Similar to the one above with slightly different format.
A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart: A Gratitude Journal for Kids by Crystal Paine – These are similar to the other journals, but they’re for our kiddos! Might as well start them young, right?!
Dear Sweet Mom Who Feels Like She is Failing from Finding Joy Blog
Where I’m Least Thankful by Suzie Eller on Proverbs 31 Ministries

Tag Archives: Jesus

Our Easter Box Tradition

A Focus Shift