My Ant-Full Easter
I remember the year I received an ant farm from the Easter Bunny.
That’s right. I was in seventh grade and wanted to have an ant farm. Easter morning, I could not hold back the surprise and excitement when I saw that the Easter Bunny (better known to me then as Mom and Dad) had left a small ant farm kit in my Easter basket.
The kit did not actually come with ants. You had to send an order form with proof of purchase for the ants to be shipped by priority mail. The kit itself came with a small five-inch by five-inch plastic tank about two inches wide plus a small bag of white sand. All you had to do was pour the sand into the tank and dump in the ants when they arrived. Unlike food for the dogs, cats, or other animals on our farm, all the ants would need was one small slice of bread drenched in sugar water every week or so. Oh boy, I was so excited when those ants came. This would be such an adventure and really so simple.
There were only about 15 ants that came in a little plastic tube. Due to a long postal journey, they seemed quite unsettled from the start. I dumped them into the sand-filled tank as directed, small chunks of bread included. Sadly, they did not make it long enough to start digging tunnels. My pet ants lived an even shorter time than goldfish or hamsters.
A fact of life is that things do not always turn out as we had planned or dreamed. We all learn very quickly that having a pet fish, hamster, or farm of ants pass away will be the least of the hardships and tragedies we face. One of the great promises of the Christian religious tradition(and also recognized similarly by other spiritual traditions), is that no matter how badly things fall out of place, they will always be fully transformed and rebalanced on a cosmic scale.
The numinous theme of Easter is the testament that Jesus conquered sin and death itself. The Gospels describe how wondrous a miracle this was for followers. Upon finding the empty tomb, they could not fathom what was happening right before their eyes.
So Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. (John 20:3–10).
More generally, this Easter season always happens in sync with Spring’s arrival. Nature is all about rebalancing and transforming as well. The ants and sand I ended up dumping in one of our farm’s pastures out back of the house certainly came back as the grass and flowers that continued to sprout up in the meadow each spring and flourish all summer.
Whatever your religious or spiritual viewpoint is, Happy Easter (or related holiday) and spring blessings sent your way. May you find renewal and rebalance after any hardship or loss you face. May you find many Divine blessings and peace this season and always.
