Easter is almost here!
Are you gathering with friends or family to celebrate the BEST NEWS EVER?!!!
This season reminds me of a message Jess Connelly shared. One Easter morning spending time with the Lord, Bible on her lap, He stunned her with this realization: After He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, Jesus first chose to appear to a woman AND His encouragement to her was “Go . . . and tell.” We still are invited to do the same today!
We get to go and tell the good news that Jesus has already made a way to forgive all our sins and put us back into a right relationship with God. He wants to offer us an abundant life here and now, in addition to an eternal future in Heaven, which is better than any of us could ever ask or imagine! We simply have to receive the free gift of Him paying our debt, by living a sinless life, dying on the cross for our sin and shame, then rising again to glory!
That news is worth sharing, whether that is with a friend across the table sipping tea, sharing it in pieces we write, deepening our conversation with co-workers, or sharing this knowledge with our children.
This is the most important conversation we could ever have, but many conversations are beneficial and sharpening, even when they are not about the reason we get to celebrate Easter.
Conversations add richness to life. If you want to enhance the quality of conversations with the people you celebrate Easter with, I have included five ice breaker questions for those who join our email list.
The first question on that list is especially meaningful to me. I was first asked this question during a potluck meal with friends, and my answer was the first time I verbalized to a group “start a podcast.” The celebration and encouragement that followed after I answered the question propelled me to launch The Savvy Sauce: Practical Chats for Intentional Living, which now has over 200 episodes. To know what the question is, don’t miss signing up for our email list!
I wonder, what response might it spark in you?!
And if you are gathering with your family this year, which includes younger children, I want to share resources that can easily usher in deeper conversations that include the Good News of Jesus!
One useful product I am including in our daughters’ Easter Baskets is the Girls Goal Planner. If you enjoy thoughtfully preparing Easter Baskets for your kids, I recommend you check out Gifts for Children’s Easter Baskets and also My Favorite Easter Activity with Kids.
As always, I hope these resources and questions inspire you to have your own practical chats for intentional living, because I believe it can be the catalyst to living a transformed, Kingdom-centered life.
In closing, I want to share those verses I referenced earlier from John 20:11-18 (NIV)
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Just like Mary Magdalene, my prayer is for us all to obey with an actionable response to whatever the Lord is prompting in our life today, Amen.
Happy Easter!
Love,
Laura