When I was fourteen, I went on a week-long canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northeastern Minnesota. There was a small group of us from our church, mostly dads and their teenage kids.
Everything we needed for the entire week we carried on our backs—tents, freeze-dried food, empty water jugs, sleeping bags, cookware, and a couple changes of clothes.
We even carried the canoes on our shoulders as we portaged from lake to lake. We set up camp along a serene shore where the gentle lapping of lake water lulled us to sleep each night, and the morning symphony of birds was our only alarm clock.
It was bliss. Until it wasn’t. By day seven, I had reached my limit as a teenage girl. My unwashed hair matted beneath my sweat-stained baseball cap. I looked and smelled … well … like I had been living in dirt and hadn’t showered in a week.
Perhaps the only thing more glorious than the serenity of nature is the feeling of stepping out of the wilderness and enjoying once again the simple luxuries of civilization: a warm shower, dinner at Sven and Ole’s Pizza, and the feeling of curling up between clean sheets. I still remember it vividly.
I delight greatly in the LORD;
—Isaiah 61:10
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness …
Going from Lent to Easter
The season of Lent is meant to reflect the 40 lonely days Jesus spent in the wilderness. And Easter? It’s a worldwide coming-out-of-the-wilderness party!
I hope that this year you’re stepping out of Lent’s wilderness with a skip in your step and extra gas in your tank. But maybe that’s not your story. Maybe it feels like you’ve been dragging your exhausted self through Lent into Good Friday, and Easter feels more like a daunting task than a celebration.
What personal wilderness have you been trudging through? Fatigue, relational strain, financial uncertainty? A season of profound disappointment or loss? An especially intense spiritual battle or a time when it just feels like you’re going through the motions?
Let Easter be your stepping-out-of-the wilderness party. The One who journeyed the wilderness before you—and for you—has already won! You get to join in the victory parade. You get to shower and eat pizza and curl up between clean sheets.
Only Easter is SO MUCH BETTERthan that!
The Fullness of Easter
The resurrection of Jesus represents a present and a future more glorious than any luxuries modern civilization can offer. During a stormy time in Judah’s history, God spoke to His people through Isaiah, promising that instead of ashes and mourning and shame, “You will rejoice in your inheritance … and everlasting joy will be yours” (Isaiah 61:7 NIV).
Through the resurrected Jesus, WE too are His people, and His promise is for us. On Easter, we remember and celebrate that our waiting is over. Our wilderness time has ended. Everlasting joy is ours!
Easter marks the miracle moment when what was broken at the fall was mended. From old to new, sick to well, lost to found, dead to alive, wilderness wandering to promised land inheritance. You are new. You are whole. You are alive. You are His. You are heir to the kingdom of God.
What awaits on Easter is just a foreshadow of the glorious future that is ours in Christ!
So, what does this mean practically for us as children’s and family ministry leaders? We don’t know what situations kids step out of when they enter our rooms. We don’t know what wilderness they are trudging through—a backseat spat with a sibling on the way to church or a home life marred by much deeper pain.
This Easter, we get to journey with kids as they step out of the wilderness and into the glorious riches of life with Jesus!
Practical Ideas for Your Ministry
So, what can you do to help make your ministry an out-of-the-wilderness celebration for kids this Easter? Here are a just few ideas:
- Set aside time to refocus your heart on Jesus. (Put it on your calendar!) Reflect on your own wilderness experience and invite the Holy Spirit to fill you anew with the joy that salvation brings!
Encourage and equip your team to do the same. Text or email them a devotion you find particularly inspiring or invite them to encourage one another by writing and sharing what God has been showing them. - Plan and prepare. But don’t overcomplicate things. I’ve heard Easter weekend referred to as the “Superbowl Sunday” of churches. And while in some ways this might be true, the pressure can feel a bit daunting. Release all of it to the God who literally holds the world.
Yes, make awesome plans. Get your team on board with the ministry’s vision for the weekend and equip them with everything they need to serve kids and families well. But then let it go. Your goal isn’t to architect the most impressive Easter experience possible. Your goal is to point kids to Jesus. So, prepare. And then be present. - Don’t ignore the tough stuff in order to get to the party. If kids are sad, if they seem distant or act out in poor behavior, remember they are dealing with their own very real wilderness experiences. Rushing sadness to reach joy can do more harm than good. Sit with kids where they are.
Point out the unique ways they are amazing. Invite them to help you and give them a special job to do. Listen when they tell you about their lives, no matter how mundane their stories may seem. When you see them and love them right where they are, you show them what Jesus is like. And I’m convinced there is no higher calling than that. - Keep JESUS the focus! Bells and whistles, eggs and bunnies, party blowers and confetti … it’s all good and fun. But unless our parties point to the Guest of Honor, we party in vain. So, keep your eyes and heart on Jesus, and the kids will follow your lead.
- Check your own self-consciousness at the door. And party like the everlasting King is alive! Because He is.
I still remember clearly the day I trudged out of the thick Minnesota wilderness, my dirt-worn backpack pressing into sore shoulders and my teenage stomach growling in anticipation of a hot meal. I still remember clearly how it felt to put on fresh clothes and brush through clean hair after a warm shower. But here’s the thing … as sweet as that day was, we have access to one infinitely sweeter. Easter.
This Easter, may we step from the wilderness of Lent to the reality of Christ’s resurrection with the same joy God promised His people through Isaiah. And may the prophet’s words become our own:
I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness …
—Isaiah 61:10
Wonder Ink’s 3-year, 52-week children’s ministry curriculum offers kids space to fully find their place in God’s Big Story. Children discover they are Known by God, Loved by Jesus, and Led by the Holy Spirit.
