I was thinking today as I was helping to get ready for our alternative Palm Sunday service, there’s never been an Easter like this.

There’s never been a Palm Sunday that I wasn’t almost unsuccessfully trying to herd a group of children into line, keep them somewhat quiet until it’s their time to go, and repeatedly saying, “Your palm leaf is not a weapon!”.

There’s never been an Easter that I wasn’t prepared at this point, or at least had a decent list of what was going in each Easter basket, with each kid specifically in mind.

There’s never been an Easter that I didn’t already have at least a few hundred eggs stuffed with candy and a plan (and rain plan) in place for an Easter morning egg hunt.

There’s never been an Easter that the plans for Holy Week weren’t already in place, with advertising done and everything ready to go.

There’s never been an Easter that our outfits weren’t already coordinated and purchased, ready for before church pictures.

There’s also never been an Easter that I’ve stopped and prayed this much leading up to Holy Week.

And there’s never been an Easter that I felt the tension and pain in the days before, more than the excitement.

And there’s never been an Easter that the concept of sacrifice was such a prevalent part of my preparations.

And there’s never been an Easter that made me look forward to the rebirth of everything around me quite like this one has.

So, maybe there has been an Easter kinda like this, I just never thought about it before now.