Easter Ideas – Touching Others

Bringing Joy to Others at Easter

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year (yes I know it’s April) : ) and we all get in the spirit of it each year with our giving but sometimes we forget there are eleven more months of the year when those in need need help. Easter is a great time to reach out in a special way to those who could use a little boost or some encouragement.

There are so many children who don’t get an Easter basket, a chocolate bunny or a pretty new Easter dress– kids in foster care, children’s homes, juvenile detention centers or just kids in a family going through a rough patch.

You don’t always have to do something big. There are many different things we can do to help.

• You can often get a pair of little white gloves or a Easter hat can at the dollar store or other similar discount store. Add some ribbons and flowers to the hat, sew a couple of pearl beads to the gloves and you have something very special.
• Bake Easter cookies to give to someone.
• Invite kids or families to church and have an Easter egg hunt afterwards.
• Don’t forget our older friends and neighbors. A pretty little primrose in a pot, one carnation in a vase, or a chocolate egg can brighten so many people’s day.
• Remember those who are sick and in hospitals: children, adults and their families.

I remember as a young mom I had walking pneumonia for three months and had cracked a rib from coughing so hard. I was so weak I could hardly get out of bed. One gloomy March day right before Easter I received a pot of tulips. I can’t even describe how those flowers made me feel. It was so wonderful!

Call places like your local fire department, police station, children’s home, nursing homes and women’s shelters. Don’t be afraid to ask what help they need. The nicest people usually work at these places and are so tickled when you call.

If you need help, ask your sewing guilds, Sunday school classes or church youth groups for help.

One last idea. After Easter, watch for good clearance sales on stuffed animals. So many places like fire departments, police departments, foster care homes, women’s shelters and hospitals need stuffed animals to give to children who have been taken away from their homes quickly for whatever reason. Often they have lost everything or need comfort of some sort. Sometimes that little animal is all they have of their own.

What better way is there to show how much we love and appreciate Christ’s suffering for us on the cross and to celebrate His resurrection than to show love to those He died for and loves so much. You know what it feels like when someone is kind to your children and He feels the same way when we show kindness to His children. Let’s try to keep the Christmas (Christ like) spirit all year long.

      -Jill

 

Photo By: Emilio Labrador