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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: ANNOYED (04/05/18)
“Darn”, Eve was fuming, as the tape was not playing the TV shows she had anticipated. What was playing was, the Billy Graham Capitol Hill viewing and the full funeral. Her TV series had been preempted.

“What’s the matter?” Abe asked as he came in the bedroom.

“I Thought that I was gonna be able to unwind. Now all this Billy Graham stuff messed up my catching up on the series!” Eve said as she threw the remote onto the bed.



“Oh; you forgot to adjust the recording schedule. Sorry babe.” Abe tried to console her.



“In just 3 days we will be at your mom’s for Easter weekend. Cause you guys go to church way more than I ever have on one weekend; 2 out of 3 days!” Eve was starting to get more annoyed, plus it was now showing.



“Your mom’s views on what type of candy I buy for your nieces and nephews is unreasonable.” Eve tried to get eye contact but Abe had his head down.

“My mom has her ways and so do you. In Rome you do as the Romans do.” Abe responded.



“Yeah I know that.” Eve said as she was walking out the room to go running.



On her run she recalled what Abe had explained about the candy restriction. He has told her the first Easter, that his mom had wanted to pass on the message of Easter in ways that young children could understand. So all the décor in the house had to be solely reflecting Christ and the Resurrection. She even made her own Resurrection Eggs for the egg hunt. She would hand pack each egg with one of the following symbols depicting the final week’s events:



Holy week= Palm branches, donkey, table for last supper, the basin and towel for foot washing, the perfume bottle, the chalice;



The final hours: a heresy’s kiss = the betrayal in the garden, a quarter and nickel = 30 pieces of silver, a whip, the governor’s seal for the 3 trials, crown of thorns, a robe, a roman solder’s breast plate, the cross, the stone to seal the tomb; and



Resurrection: an empty tomb.

Then once the kids found all the eggs they had to put their symbol on a time line, which was on the coffee table. The older kids each had one cousin under 4 to help. Once this was done, each child would say (in order of events) which one was their piece. Then they could open up and eat 3 pieces of candy from their Easter basket. As dinner was in the final stage of preparation as it was their appetizer.

After her run Eve went to Abe and asked him to again explain why these restrictions?



Abe hesitantly said “Well you see rabbits and chicks were symbols that pagans used in their animal procreation rites. Since kids learn best by seeing and doing. my Mom doesn’t want these animals’ shapes, be an unexplainable distraction from the Real reason of Easter.”

Eve nodded her head in agreement, “Now that makes sense to me too.”



Easter arrived. The egg hunt went off without a hitch. Eve even enjoyed the kids explaining Holy Week. As they sat at the dinner table the oldest grandchild was to start the prayer for the meal. Abe would close it.

This grandchild read the Jelly Bean Prayer;

“Red is for the blood He gave, Green is for the grass He made, Yellow is for the sun so bright, Black is for the sins we made, White is for the grace He gave, Purple is for His hour of sorrow, Pink is for our new tomorrow; this prayer is a promise and a special treat. Happy Easter.”

Abe closed with John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”



Fiction based on some real life events

(648 words)
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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This article has been read 558 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Taryn Deets
04/12/18
Great job on using this story for the topic! I like how you go from irritation, to running (and thinking) to the Easter celebration. I thought the irritation might rise, but it didn't, and I liked that. Only thing that could have made it a little stronger to me is to perhaps bring it back around to the beginning, connecting that back into the ending again. Nicely written.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
04/13/18
This is really sweet. It can be hard to merge two different family traditions. I liked the explanation.
You may want to double space between paragraphs, write out numbers at least to ten, but many say to a hundred, and proof your story by reading aloud or better have someone else read aloud. If he stutters, you may need to tweak that sentence and you might pick up some errors or typos.

My mom had suggested we celebrate Easter and the holy meaning that Sunday, but the following week, we could buy candy at half price or less and celebrate Spring. I don't think we ever did it, but I liked the idea. We always read the Bible before the egg hunt or opening Christmas presents because that was most important. You did a nice job showing this message.
Christian Belyea
04/13/18
You did a great job at telling a compelling story. You're right, Easter has it's roots in paganism--we have merely "Christianized" it. Kudos to the grandmother! You write extremely well for a beginner. Might I suggest, however, that once you have finished writing, put it on the back burner for a an hour or a day, then go back to it and your eye will catch what needs tweaking, especially punctuation. Other than that, you did a superb job with your story and your competent writing capabilities. Keep up the good work as you are definitely a good writer!
Christian Belyea
04/13/18
You did a great job at telling a compelling story. You're right, Easter has it's roots in paganism--we have merely "Christianized" it. Kudos to the grandmother! You write extremely well for a beginner. Might I suggest, however, that once you have finished writing, put it on the back burner for an hour or a day, then go back to it and your eye will catch what needs tweaking, especially punctuation. Other than that, you did a superb job with your story and your competent writing capabilities. Keep up the good work as you are definitely a good writer!
Larry Whittington
04/15/18
Yes, we have to be careful how we judge how other people celebrate certain days.

I can see that you have spent some time on arranging your work so it was easier to read. Keep it up.
Dennis Gallemore
04/26/18
Well done!