creative expression

I'm certain many of us recall dying hard boiled eggs each year in anticipation of Easter Sunday services with pretty dresses, hats and gloves, visits from the Easter bunny, jelly beans, and chocolate.  I don't quite understand why, for me, those traditions now seem strange, unfamiliar.  They are beautiful memories of the past that don't quite resonant with the present.  Perhaps it is the winter weather which seems to be refusing to leave.

Perhaps it is the depth with which I now understand this season - Spring, new life, renewed spirit, awakening.  Somehow pretty dresses and candy don't quite get at the beauty and wonder and mystery that is Easter.  

With winter hanging about and a inner calling to create, to bring new life to our everyday, I wandered back to one of those traditions - painting eggs. Vibrant colors, an expression of nature almost bursting from my brush, painting eggs seemed just the thing to rekindle Easter in my heart.

What I really enjoyed this year was that our creative energy seemed to linger: just like the weather.  I set up a card table and simply left the supplies out so anyone interested could put color to egg as they felt moved to do so.  Surely this meant way more to me than anyone else, but I did love seeing the paint, the brushes, the growing pile of eggs in the "completed" basket.

I also took advantage of a young man's interest in taking photos.  While I was wrist high in paint, Mr. Man took the camera and captured anything he saw of interest.  What a wonderful way to peer into the mind of a child!  He did a beautiful job with posed and candid shots.  He saw color in beauty in the ordinary.  And was sure to capture the people who are oh.so. important in his life.  It was nice, for once, to be on the other side of the camera (normally, I run as far from the camera as I can!).

This Easter, may you find the deep and rich meaning of life, the opportunity to be part of creation, and the joy of Spring!