Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Story Time with Lily Grace


Hello all my wonderful friends in Blogland!  I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend and now you are ready for a brand new week of fun and stories!! 


Remember last week when I shared the story with you about Lily's Lovely Garden?  Well, so many of you liked hearing that story so much, I thought I would share another special story with you today.  My Auntie Debbi in S.C. sent me these very nice books in my Easter package, and so I wanted to share my special gifts with you too!

Today's story is called "Flora's Magic Flute".  Remember I told you HERE that when Mommie saw this little book she almost cried, because her Mama's Mother's name was Flora, and Auntie Debbi didn't even know that when she picked out that book to send me.  So that made this book even more special.


So, come on in and have a seat in my little fairy tea garden, and let me tell you the story about "Flora's Magic Flute".  I don't have a flute like Flora, but I do have my guitar, and maybe I can play a little tune on it while I tell you this story.


I will just tell you about the story rather than read you the story word for word, but you can look at the pictures as we share the story.

You see, Flora lived in a tiny little fairy village way back in the woods, and everybody lived very peacefully together.


Apparently they always had sunshine in this little village, and while Flora played her magic flute for them, they would all dance and sing.


But one day a lot of clouds came and made their little village all dark and gloomy. 


And then it started raining. They had not had many rainy days before, and they were all very sad. They were afraid that the sun would never shine again.


But then Flora remembered that when she played music on her flute they always had sunshine and they were happy.


And so then she got her magic flute and started playing music for them.


So when the other little fairies heard Flora playing her flute, it made them remember how pretty everything was after the rain before.


And so they splashed in the rain and danced to the music "to celebrate the beauty that was to come."


And so all the birdies and the fairies and butterflies were all very happy again and lived happily ever after.



I shared this little story with my friends at our Sunday School class, and this is what we learned...
Sometimes sad and bad things will happen to us in our lives, and we may be afraid the sun will never shine again and that we can never be happy again.  
On Good Friday last week, Jesus was put on a cruel cross and died, because people were angry and full of hatred and they didn't believe Jesus was the Son of God.  And all of Jesus' followers were very sad that day and thought all their hopes were gone, and that Jesus would never be able to help them again. The sky grew dark and the sun refused to shine. And they all went and hid because they were afraid.

But three days later, on Easter morning, when the ladies went to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body, they found out that the stone had been rolled away, and an angel told them that Jesus was not there, but that He was risen from the dead.  And then some of them actually saw Jesus, and saw that He was really alive, and the sun came back out, and they began to dance and sing and rejoice because Jesus was alive!
And they all had joy and hope again in their hearts, because Jesus conquered death for all of us who believe!
And this is kind of like what happened to the little fairies when they realized that the sun would shine again and trees and flowers would bloom again...the flowers would come back to life again...and so they "all danced and splashed in the rain to celebrate the beauty that was to come."
When we know that Jesus is alive and that someday we will all go to live with Him in heaven forever and ever, we can "celebrate the beauty" that IS to come!!

Isn't that a good story? And that part is absolutely true!

I hope you enjoyed this Story Time today. Oh, looky what I found on our walk in the woods!
It is a feather from a hawk, Mommie thinks.  Since it was on the ground we saved it for our little feather collection.

Okay, that's all folks!!

Until next time,
be sure to 
"celebrate the beauty" that IS to come!!

Bye Bye,
Love,
Lily Grace


 "Flora' Magic Flute" was written by Stephen Hall and illustrated by Jennifer Bartlett.

Friday, April 2, 2021

Learning About Good Friday


Today is Good Friday.  I asked Mommie to explain it to me, because I don't understand why we call today "Good Friday" if it is the day that Jesus died on the cross.  We have this cross in our front yard that my brother Benton built for Mommie last year:


I asked Mommie, "Why does it have that crown of thorns on it, and what does the purple cloth stand for?"



Mommie said that when the angry people wanted Jesus to be hung on that cross they did very mean things to Him.  This is what she read to me from the Bible, from the book of John chapter 19:1-3

"1.  So Pilate then took Jesus and had Him flogged. 2.  And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, and put a purple cloak on Him; 3.  and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again."

That made me feel very sad. I don't understand why the same people who were waving palm branches and crying "Hosanna!" to Jesus on Sunday are now yelling and screaming for Him to be crucified and are doing such mean and terrible things to Him.

Mommie said that it was because of the sins of all people that Jesus had to die.  He was the only perfect Man who never sinned, because He is God's Son. 

"But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed."
(Isaiah 53:5)

Mommie said that the Bible tells us that all of us have sinned.
 
(Romans 3:23)
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We've been selfish and have wanted to only have our own way, and not God's way.  And no matter how hard we try, we cannot be perfectly good and sinless. 

"All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
(Isaiah 53:6)


And so, because God loves us so much, He had to send His own Son to die in our place and take away our sins so that one day we can live in heaven with Him forever.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

I am so glad that Jesus loves us enough that He was willing to suffer so much and die so that one day we can live with Him in heaven.  Mommie said that is our great hope and promise.  Today may be a sad day, but she said we shouldn't forget that "Easter is coming!"
    
And that's the best day of all!!













 

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