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I should have suspected something as Easter approached and my husband began reminiscing about how fond he was of a pet duck he had as a kid on the farm. Soon, he and our two sons came in the back door with two baby ducks they just happened to find. The boys were animated and one look at Monty’s face told the whole story.

Later, I heard laughter ringing through the house as my trio watched baby ducks learn to swim in our family’s bathtub. Did you know ducks poop in the water? Before making a sharp retort, I realized the boys and their father were having a bonding experience over baby ducks. 

Monty smiled sheepishly, “Don’t worry, Hon, I’ll clean it up and sanitize the bathtub once we finish.” 

A small pen in the backyard worked great for our ducks. They eagerly joined us as we worked in the garden, flower beds, or yard. Hovering close, they made duck noises as if talking to us as we dug around and helped them find new and exciting things to eat. Yes, they liked to eat worms and all sorts of crawling things in addition to seeds or whatever else we unearthed.

Those baby ducks were a surprising addition to our Easter that year and gave us many “duck” stories. Someday, I may write about the dog who swooped in and stole one, but that’s for another day. Today, I’m thinking about Easter celebrations I’ve seen in the United States over the last several decades. It’s apparent Easter, like Christmas, has accumulated many traditions. We celebrate with bunnies, baby chickens or ducks, decorating hard-boiled (or plastic) eggs that the grown-ups hide for children to gleefully search for, gifting baskets full of candy or gifts to children for Easter morning, new spring clothes and all sorts of commercial things that have nothing to do with the real meaning of Easter—which is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I remember Monty and me attending an open-air Easter pageant near Lawton, Oklahoma, in the 1960s. It started around 2 a.m. to get the whole story in with the resurrection at sunrise. However, a particular Easter sunrise service about 40 years ago is my most treasured memory. I was part of the singing chorus in the Liberty University football stadium. We sang Handel’s Messiah with Bill and Gloria Gaither for a sunrise service plagued by an overcast sky with menacing black clouds hanging low. As some of us faced east and began singing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, the morning sun ripped the veil of dark clouds before us and filled the sky with magnificent colors. The spectacle caught us singers in a transcendental moment that felt like we and the whole creation were exalting God. Words fail me to describe the exhilaration we saw and felt at that precise moment as we sang, “And He shall reign forever and ever, Hallelujah.” A fleeting thought some of us wondered was if we were about to see Jesus Christ’s promised return. Nothing before or since has given the euphoria of that particular Easter morning.

Over the decades, there have been many special activities and church services as I have celebrated the Easter season with its Lent and Holy Week preceding Easter. However, as I got older, I began thinking about how I had been as guilty as the next person in letting commercialism become so involved in what I did with my family. I’m not saying it was wrong; I just began wondering why I spent so much time and energy on “other stuff.” I tell myself, “Perhaps I didn’t really comprehend the significance of the resurrection.”

The actual truth of Christianity is based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ coming back to life three days after his death on the cross. Without the Resurrection of Jesus, there would be no Christianity. It would merely be another religion with a dead founder instead of being the only world religion with a living, resurrected founder. His resurrection is so historically sure that we can read accounts of it not only from his followers but also from non-Christian sources.

Jesus repeatedly predicted he would die and be raised (resurrected): Matt 17:22-23, 20:18-19, 26:32 (Mark 9:9-10); John 2:18-22, but his followers didn’t understand (Luke 18:33-34). However, seeing and touching the resurrected Jesus changed his followers from cowards hiding in a locked room to emboldened proclaimers of the gospel. Suddenly, they had bold confidence of someday being resurrected themselves to eternal life, for Jesus was the firstfruit (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). He defeated the power of sin and death and reclaimed the authority over death given up in the Garden of Eden. Jesus offered his life on the cross to pay the total penalty for sin by offering himself to be the perfect, spotless sacrifice.

Afterward, his energized followers believed he was who he said he was, and this knowledge gave them hope and confidence for their own future. This realization was critical because the origin of Christianity hinged on the conviction of those early disciples. I only comprehended this full significance of the resurrection later in life. 

In light of all this, when Monty and I moved into Westminster Canterbury, I earnestly wanted an Easter door-hanging that would somehow capture the actual significance of Easter. One day, we were browsing through the Dayton Market in Dayton, Virginia, and I stumbled upon the Landscapes in Miniature shop, which combines all sorts of natural and artificial plants in miniature. I was delighted and began brainstorming with Pam Shank, the owner, to see what she might do to help me. Then Covid hit, and it was years before we completed the project.

These pictures show what she made. I am thrilled with her breathtaking detail. If you look closely, you will spot the empty grave cloth draped across the bench in the small grave where the stone is rolled away and butterflies—yes, butterflies! 

I would love to hear your response to Pam’s wreath or how you celebrate Easter now. If you want more space to answer or want your response to be private, email me through the website instead of leaving a comment below.