Hello, God. It's me, Mara.

You know, Lord, it's fun to hear how some families prepare for Holidays. "Tillie" shared that one day she mentioned to her son and grandson that it was time to put up the Easter decorations! Her son offered to run up and get them out of the attic. Little grandson "Logan" bounced up and down on his toes, clapped his hands and asked, "Can I help decorate, too. I just smiled at him and told him 'Sure.'"

She mentioned how she loved to decorate for seasons, and that Easter ran a close second to Christmas, especially with its signs of spring's arrival with warmer days and new life abounding.

"Tillie" added that she and "Logan" surveyed the collections of baskets, bunnies and ornaments she'd kept for years; that she felt the love of generations passed on down. She told Logan stories about some of the decorations; how some special baskets were given to her kids by their grandma; how they'd fill the baskets with plastic eggs and arrange them around the house. "Logan" picked up the plastic Resurrection eggs and said, "This is mine!" Logan can now read the Easter story himself, before opening an egg containing an object that symbolizes part of Christ's sacrifice and Resurrection.

"Tillie" added that as she surveyed the Easter decorations she was overwhelmed with love, love from parents and grandparents, love to children and especially, love from our Savior to us. She added that she'd asked her son and grandson about love and Jesus, and "Logan," age 7, said, "Yes, Grandma. Remember that the reason we get to love anyone is because Jesus first loved us. You read it to us from the Bible, yesterday. I think you said it was 1 John 4:19." It was, and we chuckled.

Oh, Lord, we thank You that Your first loved us and that You love our whole family.

Love, Mara