The Evolution of the Hunt

By Hally Franz –

Soon it will be time for that perennial tradition known as the Easter egg hunt. There will be hunts in our communities and churches and at family gatherings. The White House will host one too. There will be children clad in their spring finery clutching straw or plastic baskets in a frantic mission to find eggs. Except, there really isn’t much finding involved in it.

If your experience is like mine, you have noticed that the word “hunt” doesn’t seem quite right these days; the event is more like an “Easter egg scatter.” Where it once required keen observation and time to fill one’s basket, today’s hunts are more like speed events. The ratio of eggs to child is about 24 to 1, and eggs are often tossed on the lawn in clumps as opposed to strategically disguised within the landscape. In our family, we give the littlest participants a head start. I plan to challenge that this year. Instead, we should gather the slow kids together and send them out first. However, that may not be the most sensitive approach to the festivities.

Like the fast-paced egg games themselves, the enjoyment of the haul is immediate as well. Historically, the eggs were refrigerated and later cracked, peeled and salt and peppered for enjoyment one at a time. Now, children can dump the plastic, pastel eggs onto the floor, sever the tape with a fingernail, split the egg at the seam, and retrieve the candy in a sugar-filled frenzy. This updated version comes with a mandate that kids must share 10% of the harvest with parents. Some changes are good.

Whether we hide, scatter or toss candy-coated super balls at our children is really not an issue. We know that customs will morph over the years, but they will continue to provide family fun and memories for a lifetime. What is important is that we recognize the one constant behind our Easter celebration, its unchanging nature and eternal truth.

There is no evolution when it comes to the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. God created His Son without sin to live as a man among His children. Jesus came to teach the Word of God, and He was crucified to save us from sin, allowing us to have eternal life. That’s the simplicity and the consistency of the story, no adjustments needed.

PRAYER: Almighty God, thank You for the enduring truth of Christ Jesus. We are saved from sin through His death and resurrection, given eternal life through Him.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4 NIV).

Today’s devotion is by Hally Franz. Hally is a former high school guidance counselor, turned homemaker. Hally sees each day as a new exercise, where routines change and weights vary. Her goal is to maintain all-around fitness for service, while training her children to be competitive, compassionate and Christ-like in the world in which we live.