Everyone knows about holiday spirit and Christmas miracles. How about Easter miracles? Maybe they just don’t happen as much, or maybe people plain just don’t want to hear about miracles at Easter time. But they still happen; I can attest to that.
My sister and I are only three years apart, but several Easter seasons ago I was at that prime, prideful middle school age where I was way too cool for the annual church Easter egg hunt. Instead, I chose to stuff the eggs and watch the little kids scramble around for them. Each egg was stuffed carefully, filled up with jellybeans and chocolates, by some of my church friends and I. One egg, the Golden Egg, was filled with the grand prize of five dollars, a good find for a young child, so it was decided it would be hidden in the roped-off section created for kids about five years old.
The hunt was ruthless as children ran around, bumped into each other, and raced to get the most eggs. It wasn’t much of a hunt really, more like scuffle; the eggs weren’t hidden very hard; a more accurate phrase than “hidden” would be tossed around on the ground. My sister came back more than disappointed she had not found the grand prize, that Golden Egg. Our mom, trying to placate her, told her how badly she wished our grandpa were still alive; that he would put twenty-dollar bills in all of her eggs. It was true; I can remember how each Easter I ended up with these big bills and more money than I knew what to do with, or could even appreciate at that age. After he died of cancer, Easter, or anything else for that matter, was never the same.
My sister thought about this, and then proceeded to open the next egg, a bright pink that you only see around that this time of year. Inside was a folded twenty-dollar bill, just like Grandpa Dave used to give us.
It’s funny how that story played out. Of course, it was a church egg hunt. Many a folk could have been inspired by a sermon and decided to act out by generously by putting their own money into an egg. I’m sure that we could have inquired around, asked if anyone knew about a mysterious donor. But then again, what goose would want to ruin a miracle like that?