He is Risen!

I was talking to a friend last night about not "doing Easter." We participate in Easter egg hunts and enjoy the full complement of Easter candy. But that's where it ends. My children know nothing of the Easter bunny; he has never come to our house. The only easter baskets we have are the ones MIL gives out for her annual day before Easter egg hunt. I have always said that we did this to focus on the Savior, on the good news of the gospel, that Christ was crucified and lives again. Sometimes though, I fear I've done it only to have one less commercialization hungry holiday take over our family. I want to do better.

I love this quote by Elder Bednar, a living modern day apostle of the Lord.

"The Father's gift to us was His son. The gift from the Son to us is His atonement. Perhaps the only thing that we could give Them is a growing conviction, a deepening conversion of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what it means in our lives. Perhaps the only thing we could give would be a more diligent desire and commensurate study, to not just know about the atonement, but to know Him who brought the atonement and to more fully understand the blessings of the atonement in our lives." David A. Bednar

A favorite pattern of mine in the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 25:26. It reminds me of the whole point, really, to everything I teach my children. I love that this Easter season begins, instead of ends, with General Conference this year. My hope and my prayer is that I can be ready, that our home can be conducive to really listening to what the Lord, through His apostles and prophets wants us to be doing right now to know Him, to follow Him better.