Back in Korea, Easter was only celebrated in churches. Children at church usually drew pictures or decorated boiled eggs by sticking paper decorations on them. When I was part of a youth group, we also decorated and exchanged eggs. As boiled eggs were a bit bland, we sometimes bought roasted eggs to share. Thinking back, it seems like eating tasty eggs was more important that the true meaning of Easter.

Here in the UK, I recently came across an Easter event hosted by the local Children’s Centre at Vauxhall Park near our home. The weather was nice and it looked fun, so I went with my son, Yuel. I thought we arrived early, but there were already many children who were gathered around and enjoying the weather, while decorating their own nametags. Most of them looked to be around 5-6 years old. Soon, the Easter egg hunt began. Except for Yuel and a few other children who were younger, the rest of the children rushed out as soon as it started. The children found the Easter eggs in no time. Holding Yuel’s hands, we walked slowly towards where the other children had already been. I spotted a shiny Easter egg in the bushes. I did not have high expectations, so I was delighted to find it and it felt more precious. Since it was a chocolate egg, Yuel couldn’t eat it. So we were satisfied with the one egg and we sat down on a bench. Moments later, a little boy passing by gave us one of his own eggs. Another girl came up to us and asked if we had found any eggs. Showing two eggs in her hands, she took another egg from her bag and gave one to us. There seemed to be around twenty colourful Easter eggs in her bag. I think every child had at least three and as many as a dozen eggs. If I had found my egg amongst many other eggs, would my egg feel as precious and gratifying?

By God’s grace, this year’s Easter retreat also ended well. There are so many things to be thankful for and things I want to share from the retreat. I think everyone who attended will feel the same way. However, there were many others who prayed and prepared for the retreat, but could not attend due to personal circumstances or limited availability. From a human perspective, the best outcome imaginable would be for God to miraculously change circumstances to enable everyone attend. Actually, there were a few people on the waiting list, who were able to attend miraculously at the last minute. However, there were still many others who couldn’t attend. Nevertheless, we can still be thankful to God because His grace will surely be found in the lives of those who longed and prepared for the retreat, just like those hidden Easter eggs. And I hope that the grace discovered in such longings will be cherished in their hearts and will bear the beautiful fragrance of Christ in their lives. This is because God, who provides enough for everyone, is with us (Exodus 16:17).