New Mexico Easter

"Praise the Lord for a sweet Easter day, with friends and family!"
Before the day began, I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. Although I love the holiday as a whole, I new this one would be different. It was our first Easter in New Mexico. And we go to a very small Native church....therefore, there was no Easter cantata, no special music, no drama, no Hallelujah chorus....all the things I loved about our Easters back home. I was wondering how this day was going to be "special" or different from all the other church services we attend every week. But of course, the Lord, in His incredible patience and love, showed me!

The day started a little heavy for me.....it had been a long week. But after a lot of 'giving over the Lord', I was able to focus on the the beauty of the day and the sweet reminder of His love for me. And as I opened my front door to catch a glimpse of the sunrise (I have an amazing view from my front porch), I was surprised to see the ground covered with snow. At first it was a little 'annoying' because you want this day to be bright and sunny...but it didn't take long to see the reminder of how are sins were washed white as snow on an 'Easter' morning so many years ago. I enjoyed a few minutes of peace and quiet, watching the snow quietly fall....before the kids woke up! Then everyone was scurrying to get their 'sunday best' on, while I began making the homemade tortillas and sausage I was to bring to the church breakfast. We managed to make it out the door only 15 minutes late, and arrived to our first church breakfast (we were attending 2 because we go to Sunday school at one church and then we attend service at our home church). It was a good time of fellowship and the kids enjoyed seeing all their friends dressed up. We ate light (since we had 2 meals that morning) and sat with good friends and shared much laughter. Then we headed across the street to our church and ate again! This breakfast was much different than the first. The earlier breakfast was very traditional in the "american" sense....our second breakfast was very traditional in the "navajo" way, with tortillas, an enchilada dish, blue corn mush pancakes, beef stew with green chilis, and lots of pastries! Although our conversation there was full of laughter, it was also quite different from the previous meal....here, we talked of upcoming crops and the sheep castration they had had over the weekend, along with exchanging of recipes for the blue corn mush. I love my church, I love the people there....things are simple, slow paced and everyone is happy to just sit and talk. There was no rushing to practice for a cantata, no worrying about getting a new easter outfit dirty.....it is a simple life and I really do love it!
We leisurely headed upstairs where we fellowshipped a little longer and relaxed. This was one of the first years that I have not done some special music or been involved in a play.....it was nice to just sit and enjoy the day. We had several visitors and the place was filling up. Finally we started the service and it was an amazing blessing to have a baptismal service the same day....so we began our time by watching 3 young people obey the Lord in baptism....what a sweet sight. I decided it was better than any special music or drama I could have witnessed! We began with baptism and ended with communion.....what a great way to focus on the life of Christ!
We skipped our usually Sunday lunch out and just headed home....desiring to just hang out with the family. We opened the Easter baskets my mom sent then settled down for an afternoon rest. It wasn't long before a neighbor kid came by to announce it was time for the Easter egg hunt. The weather had been 'iffy' all day, but when the time came, the sun was shining and the temp had gone up enough so that it was comfortable. The adults went down first to hide the 250+ eggs, and the kids followed shortly after. They had a great time looking for the eggs and seeing who found the gold coins inside. Afterwards, we sat around and talked about our day watching the kids indulge in the many jellybeans and chocolate.
And although the day ended heavy, I am so thankful for the sweet day of praise and worship He gave me....it just looked different than I expected and anything I was used to.....but a beautiful Easter day, nonetheless!