Easter baskets! They’re one of the best traditions about Easter. They’re colorful, full of candy and goodies, and bring joy!

Now that Easter has passed, I’m still reminded of our Easter baskets. I have put all our Easter decorations and plastic eggs and baskets in the attic to save for next year. But the Easter basket grass is still everywhere. You know the stuff. It’s the foundation to all of the good Easter baskets. It’s the colorful carpet upon which to lay all the bright and festive eggs. I try to buy the nice kind to cover the bottom of all our baskets. But this year I was running behind. The store I went to ran out of the more expensive (but worth it) good Easter grass. Therefore, I had to settle for the inexpensive stuff.

This grass is made of plastic instead of paper, and it gets everywhere!! It sticks to your hands as you go searching for the lone jellybean that you saw fall back into the basket. It gets on the floor and has the ability to hide from the broom. It cements itself to your clothes or the bottom of your shoes, so you find it days later in your car or closet. These little pieces of grass end up in one hundred and one different places around your house. You can’t contain them!

My hope and prayer this Easter season is that the Gospel message would be like the Easter grass. We’ll let the hope of the resurrection cling to us and not let us go. When we are at our best, may it bring us the ultimate joy. But more importantly when we are at our worst and lowest points, may the hope of Christ surround us with a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Much like the grass that is ever present in my house, may the presence of Christ be with us always. When we feel alone. When we are depressed or feeling anxious, Christ fills our lives with God’s presence. We find Christ in the most unlikely places–in the smile of a friend, in the hug of a neighbor or a coworker reaching out to see if we’re ok. God will hold us in God’s arms of grace, mercy and love and always be with us.

Like the Easter basket grass that sticks to our clothing, may the world see the Gospel message on us. Throughout Holy Week we witnessed Jesus as a humble king, servant of all, sacrificial lamb, and a bearer of resurrection hope. When the world sees us, let them see Jesus’ humility, service, love, and hope.

The grass cannot be contained. May our excitement for the Gospel spill over to saturate the world around us. We have been gifted with this Gospel to share with all whom we know and love. We are Easter people; therefore, as we go around this week with Easter basket grass in the corners of our house, on our shoes and in our clothes, may we spread this Easter Gospel with the world!!

He is risen!! He is risen indeed!!

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