We who have everything, the gift of life, good health or at least access to good medical care, and loving family including fur babies, live in a day and time when we are surrounded by opinions. Some hold them fast, some hold them long and strong, and others are new to understanding and believing who they are and why they feel as they do.

When it comes to religion, many of us belong to a group that has a name that describes their faith. Some are Christians, others are Jews, still others are Muslims, and a list too long to name and be fully inclusive. As a group, there are subgroups to many of the religious followers that distinguish their group among the others. Yet, one commonality across all groups is an agreement to agree on faith as a practice of worship, following traditional values and tenets as history has carried them through.

For as many years as there has been agreement among groups with similar faiths, there have been groups equally as loud protesting that those same groups are wrong, misguided, and in fact, harmful. To a child learning about Christian Easter, Jewish Passover, and Muslim Ramadan, though, none of this is important. Not yet. The capacity of a child to understand faith is 100% learned by the example of the parents or loving adult caregivers of that child, who model what it is to believe in that faith.

For those who are raised in a church setting, it usually involves bringing your child to a church nursery while you worship in the sanctuary. After that stage, the youngsters old enough to begin to learn the lessons of life and loss and love begin to find understanding with each year. In the Christian faith, it might appear that the Easter bunny has ushered in a concept of “good news.”

In the 13

th

century,

magazine tells us, is when people place the beginning of decorating eggs. During the Lenten season, congregants were asked to give up eating eggs. So, at the conclusion of Lent, eggs were decorated and exchanged. In the 1700’s, German immigrants arriving in America taught children to make little “nests” for where the bunny could lay its eggs. The baskets were decorated as were the eggs. Chocolate and candy soon followed.

In our family we are still at the basket, bunny, and the story in the Bible will follow as Rowen grows older. As eggs at one point represented new life, the color of purple represents the Lenten season and new life in Christ. Symbols representing God’s love abound throughout our daily lives. As we are in church, our children see our habits and patterns and respect for the traditions their parents taught them.

Every year we celebrate our holidays, as ours does Easter, we give ourselves a chance to be thankful to God for His son, for bringing us to know that beyond this life is a rejoining of love from our loved ones to be reunited with them, and to have everlasting life. It’s a gift to us, and it’s free for the asking. We get a clean slate each year with Easter as we can resolve to start over and try again in those areas of our life that might need attention.

We can take time to say “Good job” to our children to let them know we see their progress. We can say “thank you” to them each time they try to show you they want to please you. And most of all, we can listen when they want to chat. There’s nothing more precious than the voice of your child sharing love and laughter with you.

May this Holy season bring you closer to hearing God’s voice that guides you on your journey ahead. May there be peace and quiet and may any discontent be dissolved by reason rather than loud anger. May we experience healing in all the areas of our world that need it. May we know we are blessed with the gift of life we have been given each day. Happy Easter to all of you and your families from our family.

Cody D. Jones ‘02

Owner & Community Member

Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

As Sunday School classes make their way into the main church building, teachers and volunteers will hand them a palm frond or two. Excitedly, they will line up, wearing little pressed shirts and blouses and bright, happy smiles, thrilled to be doing something that the adults are doing.

In preparing for this event, we explain to Rowen that this is the week where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He knew what this week would mean as the end of His life here on this Earth. Then, we tell him that this week we celebrate each year as “Holy Week,” the week in which it would mean that God would take his Son, Jesus, to be with Him in Heaven. When we do that, it means that, at least to our little man at age 2, we will all be together again in Heaven.

This fact of reassurance is extremely important to both Chelsea and me, because it was the very afternoon of the morning that we had a memorial service for my grandmother, Dian Jones, that I went to the hospital so the doctor could deliver Rowen that same day. In this most poignant example of the precious circle of life, the celebration of a new life ahead of us—our life with Owen—was made possible on the very same day that we had to acknowledge the passing of my dear grandmother.

As adults it is easy to forget when and how we first begin to understand and look forward to the hope of everlasting life beyond this Earth. Yet, in fact, it is when, as children, we begin to greet the beginning of Holy Week and the onset of Easter and life together again with God in Heaven that we have hope for every day of our lives ahead on this Earth.

So, as you have a chance to see the faces of the little cherubs holding their oversized palm fronds, waving them and smiling at you, keep in mind that you are seeing one of the very first steps toward their being Christians.

With your help, prayers, and encouragement, they will become amazing adults of faith in years to come. Help them shout and sing, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!”

Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

As Sunday School classes make their way into the main church building, teachers and volunteers will hand them a palm frond or two. Excitedly, they will line up, wearing little pressed shirts and blouses and bright, happy smiles, thrilled to be doing something that the adults are doing.

In preparing for this event, we explain to Rowen that this is the week where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He knew what this week would mean as the end of His life here on this Earth. Then, we tell him that this week we celebrate each year as “Holy Week,” the week in which it would mean that God would take his Son, Jesus, to be with Him in Heaven. When we do that, it means that, at least to our little man at age 2, we will all be together again in Heaven.

This fact of reassurance is extremely important to both Chelsea and me, because it was the very afternoon of the morning that we had a memorial service for my grandmother, Dian Jones, that I went to the hospital so the doctor could deliver Rowen that same day. In this most poignant example of the precious circle of life, the celebration of a new life ahead of us—our life with Owen—was made possible on the very same day that we had to acknowledge the passing of my dear grandmother.

As adults it is easy to forget when and how we first begin to understand and look forward to the hope of everlasting life beyond this Earth. Yet, in fact, it is when, as children, we begin to greet the beginning of Holy Week and the onset of Easter and life together again with God in Heaven that we have hope for every day of our lives ahead on this Earth.

So, as you have a chance to see the faces of the little cherubs holding their oversized palm fronds, waving them and smiling at you, keep in mind that you are seeing one of the very first steps toward their being Christians.

With your help, prayers, and encouragement, they will become amazing adults of faith in years to come. Help them shout and sing, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!”