Beware the Lucky Nut; Sometimes we all just need to be purged (Easter Sunday Rant)

My son Thomas has a favorite book about a couple of pigs named Toot and Puddle. As I recall the book is called I’ll Be Home for Christmas and is about Toot trying to get back home to his friend Puddle at Christmas time. Yes, I am very aware that it is Easter and I am talking about a Christmas book, but anyone who is such a liturgical season Nazi that they are offended by Christmas books in April will just have to stay mad at me. In the end it is their choice. I bring up the book only in reference to Toot’s lucky nut, which he receives as a gift from his Great Aunt Peg. Ever since Thomas started really enjoying his pig book, all nuts have become lucky and as soon as he gets his hands on them they find there way into our living room. Now the nut may be lucky to Thomas, but to his clumsy oaf of a father (me) they are, in fact, very unlucky. My feet specifically find them unlucky, especially early in the morning when I am stumbling around in the dark trying to find the coffee pot and the light switch, the former being more key to my existence than the latter. To put it simply, I hate the “lucky nuts.” Thus when Katie and Thomas went out of town this past week to visit the grandparents a rare and unforeseen opportunity suddenly struck my household. A chance to purge myself of those cursed nuts that are constantly causing me varying amounts of pain. As I went about my apartment hunting down lucky nuts, I started thinking about Lent, Easter, and Holy Week. I also started thinking about how my hunt for the nuts was a very imperfect example of our relationship with God. Sometimes we have things in our lives that we really enjoy, like Thomas’ lucky nuts. The thing is, they aren’t always good for us, or those around us. Lent is kind of like Thomas and Katie getting out of the apartment for a few days. It gets us out of the way and gives God a chance to move in and clean up all the junk. That way when we come back after Easter we are ready to make a fresh and clean start. The biggest challenge is for us to not be like Thomas, who will almost without a doubt find a lucky nut or two in the parking lot and kart them inside, much to the chagrin of my poor feet. Once we have been purified during our Lenten journey, the trick is to avoid falling back into old habits that can lead us back away from Christ. Like I said, I know that it is a VERY imperfect example of Lent and Easter, but it came to mind the other day while I was on my search and destroy mission for lucky nuts. And don’t worry about how mean it might sound that I am throwing away something that belongs to Thomas. No doubt he will relish the opportunity to begin his little collection of torture devices all over again. That being said, I pray that you all will have a truly blessed and wonderful Easter.