Julie's Raintree

"When Jesus Washed My Sins Away..."

Although we do not & will not have, for awhile anyway, leaves on our trees or much of any kind of color to tell us it is Spring, we do have this...

a little patch of promise.

& after all, this is the season of promise, Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

I have always loved Easter time since I can first remember. The hunt was the highlight of course, which probably sparked my love of a mystery (probably also sparked my first love of chocolate. Mmmm. That chocolate bunny! I think I hear one calling my name right now!) 🐰

When it came time to establish our own Easter traditions with our family of five girls, (the other two, a boy & another girl, came later), being a seamstress like my mother, I always sewed colorful Easter dresses for each girl. It was so much fun & they always looked so pretty, like a human Easter basket in an array of soft pastel or bright sunshiny shades. & a new tradition, we decided to extend the hunt to outside as well as inside, even in inclement weather, which it often was. We also added plastic eggs to our "repertoire" of colored eggs. These contained small prizes or coins which were always the more sought after & encouraged much more enthusiasm! & living in the country the hunt could be stretched out to a longer period of time. My husband & I got pretty creative!

But preceding the hunt, was the joyful time of creating your own rainbow in the form of those oval little orbs of white.

Every year we would also make our own eggs for our Easter tree by poking a hole in each end of the egg, then blowing through the hole to get rid of all of the raw egg. Then we would draw whatever design on it with craft markers & attach a ribbon or string & hang it on our Easter tree.

The tree is the centerpiece of my Easter table vignette that I make every year.

This string of sparkly lightbulbs are alternated with pretty Easter cards & blessed sentiments.

My "Spring" banner

Here I alternated balloons with pretty, springy, paper plates on which I wrote the letters 'S P R I N G', attached to the cute clothespin clip-on lights.

I could not resist these little bunnies that I purchased from 'Hobby Lobby' a few years ago. Adorable!

This is the 'Welcome Wagon' on my little front porch.

& this is little 'Merry' the sheep, who loves getting into mischief.

like me. & maybe you too?

that little rascal!

She thinks she's hidden in the shadows, but we can see her! But in all of her mischief, Merry is a very joyful & secure little sheep
because she knows...

...just like me.

Now, let me tell you some things about sheep you may not know.

Sheep are not really very smart. They will wander away from the protection of the shepherd & get into all kinds of trouble & even perilous & life-threatening situations. "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way;..." Ah, but here's the remedy for that rebellious & errant sheep, "& the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) Jesus paid the price to be our true & faithful Shepherd, to those

sheep who have no sense of direction, get lost easily & can't find their way back to the fold on their own. (another trait of sheep which does seem to resemble the description of we humans.)

Here is another "need to be rescued" predicament for a sheep that is called a 'cast sheep'. If a sheep gets down & cannot get up, maybe because it's pregnant or somehow it's balance is upset & the center of gravity is off, gasses start to build up in its abdomen & if they remain in that position, will die in a matter of hours. If it is put back upright again, it will be ok. That's what the shepherd does. He turns the sheep right side up again!

& they can't clean themselves. They need someone to do it for them. That's what our Good Shepherd does for us.

& a shepherd lives with his sheep. He is their provider of food, water, safety & at times, discipline. "The Lord is my Shepherd....your rod & staff comfort me..." How does the rod comfort the sheep? It hurts!! But, the rod can save the sheep's life if it is bent on self-destruction, or bent on disobedience, which also is self-destructive. The 'rod of correction' or suffering, can save the sheep's life. But the rod is also used to ward off any enemies that would be harmful to the sheep. The staff, on the other hand, is used to guide the sheep or with the crook of the staff, pull the sheep back into the right path. All of these comparative analogies give me great comfort, & cause me to just want to snuggle into Shepherd Jesus arms.

There are many more excellent comparisons of sheep to humans & why we are referred to as sheep so many times in the Bible. But this is my favorite...

Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd and I know My sheep & am known by My own." (John 10:14, italics mine) Don't you just love it?? A sheep will always recognize the voice of it's shepherd! & follows him! "My sheep hear My voice & I know them & they follow Me." (v. 27) There is the free will of course, but that's when the shepherd goes into action to secure the prodigal & bring it back into the fold. "for the Son of Man has come to seek & save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10) & here is hope, for all of those you love & pray to also know the Shepherd.

Again, Jesus speaking, "& I lay down my life for the sheep. & other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, & they will hear My voice; & there will be one flock & one shepherd." (v. 15 & 16) They WILL HEAR. I love that!

Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:9)

"There's only one man, the Author of life,

who overcame death & the grave.

There's only one Lamb who is holy enough,

whose blood has the power to save.

There's only one Shepherd with love so great

He'd choose to die for our gain.

There's only one Lord, one matchless King,

who's worthy forever to reign."

👑

I love the very last scene of the 1950's movie of 'Ben Hur', which depicts a shepherd leading a herd of sheep across the land of Golgotha with Jesus' cross in the background. I am one of those sheep. John 10:17 & 18, (John chapter 10 as you can see is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible), "...I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." For all. For you. For me. I'm so glad He came for me. I'm so happy that I heard His voice. I'm so blessed, so happy, that I followed, that the Shepherd with His beautiful, cleansing blood of the Lamb, washed all my sins away. Oh happy, happy day!