Happy Easter friends! Today is a very special day!

For Easter in our house this year I decided to write an Easter story for my kids. I felt inspired on more than one occasion to write this story. One time while listening to a Steiner lecture on Easter and another when I was shovelling snow off of our deck about a week ago. That was the day I decided to write the story and share it with the kids.

The theme is of light overcoming darkness, love overcoming fear, and of life overcoming death. I made the story fictional but using aspects of our life together as a family and the name Serafina as the main character (because I love her name so much).

I used elements of nature fairies and goblins for children and weaved in the true meaning behind Easter as well as related it to both the seasonal and soulful/spiritual inner changes we experience around this time of year.

I hope this story inspires or enlivens both younger children and adults alike.

Enjoy!

Will Winter Last Forever?

Little Serafina looked out her window. The snow was falling in big, fluffy flakes slowly to the ground. It was March, the month when spring was supposed to begin to make its appearance, but the only sign of the weather changing was a fresh, thick blanket of snow.

Serafina turned from the window to her mother who was standing beside her in the kitchen and asked, “Mommy, will spring come this year? What if it doesn’t? What if it stays winter forever?” Serafina was afraid that the fairies that brought the green grass, leaf buds, and brightly colored flowers would perhaps have been captured by Jack Frost and his frost goblins. She was worried that this spring she wouldn’t get to play in the dandelions or run barefoot in the grass. And if spring never did arrive, neither would her favorite season of all: summer! And if summer never came, neither would long days spent at the beach.

Serafina’s mother looked down at Serafina and told her comfortingly that spring would indeed come. No matter how dark the days and how long and cold the winters, spring had always shown up and broken through the bitter cold and ice. Serafina’s mother also told her that the time of year that spring began to conquer winter was always around Easter time, the same time of year when Christ conquered death on the cross.

Serafina thought about what her mother had said and took another glance at the falling snow flakes. She wanted to believe her mother, but this time she wasn’t so sure. Her mother gave her a muffin and a glass of milk and sent her off to bed. Serafina began to close her eyes and asked God in her prayers that night that spring would arrive and conquer winter just as Christ had conquered the grave.

The next morning Serafina woke up and eagerly ran to the window. She was anticipating the bright sunshine to be streaming down warmth enough to begin melting the mounds of snow, but when Serafina looked up the sky was dark and cloudy and more big snowflakes were falling.

Serafina’s mother could tell that Serafina was disappointed, but she gave her her breakfast with a smile on her face. Serafina wondered how her mother could be so smiley and happy when the world looked so white, but Serafina’s mom had lived long enough to know that nothing lasts forever, not even cold, dark, white winters.

A few more weeks of mittens and hats passed for Serafina. She wore her boots to town to go with mommy and check the mail and the snow crunched loudly underfoot. When she got back home she noticed that the sun was shining brighter and her mother offered for her to spend some time playing outside while she started the soup and bread.

Serafina noticed something else too while she was playing outside in the world of white, the snow was stickier than it had been even earlier that morning on their walk to town. She decided to play with some snow and realized that it was even sticky enough to make a snowman.

When she came inside she was so proud to show her mother what she had been up to and her mother was proud to see Serafina smiling.

Serafina went to bed that night and thanked God for answering her prayers about spring. She felt hopeful that spring really was going to come, the light really was going to conquer the darkness, and that the new life of spring would conquer the death of winter.

Over the next few days Serafina was feeling so happy. It was just something in the air. A new feeling of joy and productivity was stirring inside of her. She spent the afternoons with mommy doing Easter crafts, reading Easter stories, and baking the Easter bread and treats. She had hardly even ever been looking out the window any more, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the snowman she had built was melting and now looked rather funny.

“Mommy! Look!” she exclaimed. “My snowman, it’s melting!”

The sun then began to grow stronger as the countdown to Easter grew shorter and finally it was Easter morning. Serafina got ready to go and play outside, but this time instead of putting on her winter boots she put on her pink rubber boots. And instead of her winter jacket, hat, and mitts, Serafina wore her pink spring jacket.

It was no longer cold and dark, but bright and warm. Serafina spent the afternoon splashing around in puddles and drawing pictures on the side walk with side walk chalk. Her mother, father and sisters came outside with her too and her father blew bubbles for her and her sisters to chase.

As she ran through the puddle-filled yard she felt as if fairies were all around her beckoning buds to blossom and seeds to sprout. A warm wind blew through her hair and she felt silly for ever thinking that the dark of winter would last forever and that spring might possibly never come.

Serafina learned a very important lesson that year: that no matter how long the darkness in life seems, the light is always brighter and stronger– and that springtime will always come.