Marshmallow Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies

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April 11, 2009

By Craig Ziemba / guest columnist The Meridian Star Sat Apr 11, 2009, 11:24 PM CDT

Each holiday has its own associations, and walking down the candy aisle at WalMart this week brought back memories of Easter. To this day the smell of vinegar reminds me of sitting around the kitchen table with my sisters trying to balance eggs on those little wire dippers into Paas dye.

What excited us the most, though, were Easter egg hunts. At the word, “GO!” the neighborhood kids scrambled all over the yard in a frenzied dash for candy, grabbing as much as we could to stuff into tacky plastic baskets.

The ironic thing was that for as much as we built it up in our minds, the candy wasn’t that good. The chick-shaped peeps were terrible, like an airy, stale marshmallow coated with food coloring. The big Easter bunnies looked huge sitting on the plastic hay, but they were made of cheap, waxy chocolate and when you took a bite you found out they were hollow inside. The gold coins turned out to be yellow tinfoil wrapped around more cheap chocolate. But it was candy, and we were kids so we ate it until we were sick.

We don’t change much as we age, do we? Most adults spend their lives in a mad dash for more mature versions of candy. Bigger houses, fancier cars, and stacks of coin all packaged to impress. We burn ourselves out earning degrees, accomplishments, and recognition thinking that if we crammed our baskets full enough, we’d be happy.

But just like those marshmallow peeps and chocolate bunnies, none of the things we build up in our minds ever satisfy. The Easter baskets end up in the attic collecting dust next to all the other things that we thought mattered so much when we bought them. We gorge ourselves on material possessions only to find that they make us sick in our souls. Just like a kid with a sugar hangover, deep down we all recognize this and look for answers. Modern philosophy tries in vain to describe and prescribe a cure for the human condition, but it cannot. The entertainment industry tries to distract us from our emptiness with tinsel and glamour, but there’s no amount of knowledge or pleasure that can still the restlessness of the soul.

Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.”

Man’s greatest need isn’t stuff—our greatest need is experiencing the love and forgiveness of God. Each passing year as I read the Easter story, it becomes more meaningful, and the gratitude I feel for God’s grace becomes more real than anything I’ve ever bought or held.

The Cross was history’s defining moment, and never before or since has there been such a beautiful demonstration of love. Even as the crowd mocked and jeered while Jesus hung on the Cross racked with pain, He prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That’s life changing, powerful, mind blowing love.

But the story didn’t end there. After Jesus died for our sins He was buried and rose again on the third day showing that He had the power to not only forgive sins but also to defeat death and Hell. That’s why the true meaning of Easter is knowing the risen Savior and experiencing the joy, peace, and promise of eternal life that only He can give. Anything less is hollow.

Craig Ziemba is a military pilot who lives in Meridian. To have him speak at your event, email craigziemba@aol.com

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