silver clouds with dark linings....

Today is the big day... the Easter Egg Hunt at Sabbath Rest Farm. For eleven years children from our church have come to our house bearing eggs and baskets looking for a party to happen. We eat, then Michael takes all the children on a hayride while the eggs are hidden. Long before the tractor tops the hill at our house, you can hear the laughter and squealing. Many of these children were babies or toddlers when they first began coming to the egg hunt but the pleasure has not dimmed over the years. We started this tradition while we were living in town and there were only three children in the church. Now we have over sixty children and at least half of them come. I’ve learned some lessons from the egg hunt over the years.
The first lesson I learned after about five years was to pick up but not clean up before the thundering herd comes. You can dust and vacuum and mop but three minutes after a gaggle of children march through the house, there is no line of demarcation between clean and dirty. It is all dirty. So preparation for a party is more about the guest and less about me. If what is needed is provided, in this case, food and working bathrooms, the outdoors and eggs a plenty for finding, dust on my bedside table is irrelevant. So now I can have as much fun as the children without feeling like I have to be perfectly presented.
The second lesson I have learned is how to rejoice regardless of the circumstances. The children know how to live joyfully, fully present in the moment. The year it rained was as much fun as the sunshine years. Children’s laughter does not need a reason to be. It just is. Excitement and joy trump worry and grief for this one afternoon in my life and I am grateful for the gift.
The most important lesson, however, is the "silver cloud with a dark lining" lesson. It has taken me years to learn this lesson and some days it feels like I am learning it for the first time again. The old song’s words told us to "look for the silver lining the dark clouds" when we were experiencing difficult times. Much like Paul’s words... All things work to good for those who love the Lord... these words help us see possibilities in grief and loss and anger and fear.
But today, Palm Sunday, the first day of our Holy Week, the opposite is true. The silver cloud of the parade with palms and rejoicing is edged with the fast approaching darkness of persecution and death. We know what is coming and we dread it... there will be no last minute rescue from death. Yet even with the knowledge of the future, we must take hope and heart in the joy of the moment. Lifegift is never all one or the other. There is always joy and light in the darkest hour just as the knowledge of grief and loss sweetens the silver cloud hours. I am learning still how to be thankful whatever the state of my being.
So for today, I will giggle and laugh. I will take pleasure in watching children ride Junie B. When the children scatter to the four winds running like turkeys flushed from the woods looking for eggs stuffed with candy, I will remember all the silver clouds in my larger sky. I will give thanks for the One who loves me and stands by me through darkness and light. I am grateful for all that has been and all that is yet to be. Tomorrow is soon enough for the dark lining.