The Easter Bunny is Real

This year we revealed to Blake the Easter Bunny isn’t real. I was really sad about this, because this is the end of an era. We do not plan to have any more children, so this is a time of loss for me. So we spent our first Easter with everyone “in the know,” which is a really funny thing to say at Easter. And this “in the know” about the Easter Bunny was challenged for our whole family.

Easter is a holiday that doesn’t make sense, as George said in his Easter sermon: Good Friday makes sense; Easter does not. George talked about experiencing the Resurrection through our senses, and I had every “amen” in the world bubbling up inside of me. I am still too nervous to bust them out in service at this point. Even those who literally experienced the Resurrection had a different experience. It threw everyone off. They were told this was going to happen, but it didn’t make sense. That wasn’t a concept they could grasp. We still can’t — not without experiencing our own raising, as George said. The sermon had me on fire.

We came home and did all the Easter things: lunch, pictures, egg hunt. Then we rested outside, and Jake discovered a baby bunny by our tree. We could not find a nest anywhere. This sweet bunny, whose eyes were not open yet, was scrambling to survive by our tree. We had no idea what to do, so we decided to move it to a spot out front, hoping mom would find it. We came home the next day only to find it in the same spot, but at least it was still alive.

Blake begged us to do something. Tears were running down his face. Death seemed imminent. Kimberlyn was equally as emotional. I felt helpless, so I called the Sachse Animal Shelter. Even they were not sure they could do anything but encouraged us to bring the bunny in anyway. Jake and Blake headed to the shelter to deliver the bunny while Kimberlyn was still at school. When they came home, Blake asked me if they would give an update. I told him probably not, because, honestly, I did not believe anything good was going to come of it. I was just thankful to give the kids and the bunny some hope. I told Blake the bunny must be a fighter to still be alive today and he gave it the best chance it could at survival.

The next day I checked Twitter and happened to see the Sachse Boys Soccer team retweet the story about the bunny we delivered to the Sachse Animal Shelter. I could not believe my eyes. Here is what the tweet said: “A very kind young man and his Dad (aka to some of you soccer players as Coach) brought this baby to us cause it had been separated from the nest and Mom didn’t come back. Our friends at Cross Timbers have picked him up and baby bunny will get the best of care. ThankU.”

I was stunned. As soon as I picked up Blake, I told him we did get an update. Blake was overjoyed. Then at Kimberlyn’s soccer game, I got another update. This one telling me the rehab transport arrived shortly after we left and the baby bunny is on the mend. I told Blake and he said, “Easter is healing!” He named the bunny Easter. I could not get over how profound that statement was all by itself. Easter is healing.

I think about how we as Christians so easily proclaim Christ is risen. But with so much wrong in the world how does that statement make sense to anyone who is not an insider, or to those hurt by the church? It doesn’t make sense until you have entered the story and experienced your own death and resurrection story. When you see people believe life is worth it, even though death makes more sense.

The story of this bunny doesn’t make sense, but it is good news. To proclaim the Easter Bunny is real will make people think we have lost our minds. But Easter Bunny does exist, and he is going to be OK.

Easter is about healing and believing in life. It is imperative that Christians model this faith. The world wants to believe this is true. We have a story saying this is true.