Running to the Father

This Saturday, I was blessed to be asked to help out at my company's annual Easter egg hunt. Now, I have only participated in one Easter egg hunt in my life, in my grandparents' backyard, so I can by no means say that I went in to this experience with any preconceptions of what it would be like. We are a fairly small company, but there are a lot of young parents that work in the plant, so there were over 80 kids participating in the various age groups of the hunt. It was a beautiful experience, seeing the joy of the kids and their parents as they shared in the day. The part that struck me, however, was an experience from before the actual egg searching began.

You see, my older sister Heidi is attempting to branch out in her photography business. [Look her up on Facebook--she is very talented!] My boss actually suggested that she be the official photographer for the Easter egg hunt this year. So, when I got my email listing my assignment for that morning, what did it say, but "Assistant to the photographer." I laughed out loud. But on the morning of the hunt, I was helping my sister as she took photos of the little boys and girls with everyone's favorite, the Easter Bunny.

There was a nice little rocking chair set up in the corner, where the kiddos could sit on the bunny's lap and smile for a picture. There were some cute poses by some cute kids. However, what struck me were the kids who, like me, are scared of the bunny. Correction, they are scared of the man dressed up as a bunny. While I like Brian, see him at work each day, and would enjoy conversation with him, when he puts on the bunny suit, I don't dig it quite so much. And, as I recall, as a child I was also scared of taking any photos with the bunny. So things haven't changed that much, I guess!

Many children share my perspective, I think, as they would run to their parents, with arms outstretched, to be picked up. For them, their parents represent comfort, protection, and safety. They know that, even though it was one scary bunny posing for photos, when they were with their parents, nothing could harm them.

It has been a few days since the Easter egg hunt, and I had let these nice experiences kind of slip into the back of my mind, but this afternoon, as I sat in my living room praying the rosary, the vision of a small child with arms outstretched crept back into my mind. Shouldn't I be just like that child? I should be running to the Father, with arms outstretched. There is so much in this world that I have let myself become afraid of. There are so many overwhelming things, uncertainty about the future, sickness, death, and pain. And yet, if I would just open the doors of my heart and reach out my arms to the Father's embrace, then nothing can harm me.

I pray that during this Holy Week and upcoming Easter season, we may all run to the Father, like a little child, reaching out to Him.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to the Lord, "My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust."
Psalm 91:1-2

Photo taken by Heidi Litwiler Photography