"Train up a child
in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6
One of my
favorite childhood memories from the Easter season are "Resurrection Eggs." No, they aren't eggs that resurrect from the refrigerator...rather
they are plastic eggs with some object inside that relates to the Easter story. It's kind of like advent calendars for the Easter
season. So many days before Easter, you
open up the plastic egg, look at the object and read the scripture that
corresponds with that object. It's
basically a mini object lesson for the day, taking no more than 10 minutes.
I've seen
many types of "Resurrection Eggs," but my favorite are the ones my
parents created. Many of the ones you
can buy in the store today are like 10-12 days long. My parents took that idea and expanded on it. Instead of a 12-day "Resurrection
Egg" lesson plan, my parents developed a 40-day lesson plan using these
simple plastic eggs. They searched the
scriptures and found 40 different objects that relate from everything beginning
with the Triumphal Entry all the way to Pentecost. We would begin it way before Easter and end a
few days after Easter Sunday.
As a child,
I remember being so excited each year as we opened each egg. Every year the objects were the same and of
course the story never changed, but I learned something new about the Easter
story every year we did the "Resurrection Egg" lessons. I can still remember some of the objects that
would be in those eggs...one that comes immediately to my mind was a nasty fig
(I say nasty because it never got replaced from year to year and that plastic
egg stunk after a while J). The fig represented the story of Jesus cursing
the fig tree (Mark 11:12-25). Another
was a wet Kleenex representing when Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem (Luke
19:41-44). Of course there were plastic
eggs with nails in them, a stone, an angel, and so on...and you can figure what
those represented.
I am so
thankful for parents who valued teaching me about the Bible at home. This can NOT be underestimated! When I was in college, our education
professors drove this home - learning can begin at school (or in this case church),
but it MUST continue in the home! I'm
not a parent, but I know the value of having parents who taught me the God's truth
at home. My parents were the ones who
helped me memorize Scripture, answer my questions about Christ, teach me
Christian praise songs, and use object lessons to teach me about the Bible...not
my teachers, not my friends, and not myself.
My teachers definitely were God-sends and helped me learn, but my
parents reinforced my learning at home. Kids
are pretty awesome people, but they need the influence of godly, Christian
parents (or guardians) to grow into even more awesome teenagers and adults! Remember Proverbs 22:6 - "Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it."
If you've
never done "Resurrection Eggs" before, I SO encourage you to do it
with your children! Kids are visual and
love to be able to "see" how something relates to a story or concept...doesn't
matter the age. I'm a firm believer in using
object lessons with kids and "Resurrection Eggs" are a great help in teaching
kids about the Easter story.
You can buy
these in stores...but honestly you can make it yourself using common things at
home too. If you're interested in the
40-day one my parents developed, comment below and I would love to send you the
plan. I've included below an awesome DIY
(do-it-yourself) below...this is one of the easiest I've seen in a while.
Parents...teachers...children's
leaders....we are responsible for teaching the Truth to the next
generation. In order to impact future
generations for Christ, our children have to be ready and knowledgeable about Him
and their knowledge begins with us.
Here's the DIY "Resurrection Egg" tutorial I was telling you about:
(C) Tasha Sawyer, 2013 - http://www.commissionstories.com/asia/interactives/view/resurrection-eggs-share-christ
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