My Easter Lesson

Our Easter morning was going great and I was real pleased that all of my preparation to make it special was paying off. The girls loved waking up to the jelly bean trail, and their easter baskets and the egg hunt, etc. Then it started to get later and we needed to get busy. We had to eat breakfast, shower, get the girls ready and out the door for church before meeting the rest of the family for brunch. I started to get really aggravated and annoyed with Mark, nagging at him for not doing exactly what I wanted him to be doing to help me out. All huffy, I stomped up the stairs and yelled down at him that I was getting in the shower.
As I showered, I prayed. (a regular ritual for me) I was able to calm down a little and remember how special this holiday was. I began to see that I was getting all wrapped up in the hype and the chaos and was missing the celebration. I asked God to help me see and appreciate the true joy of this day in our faith. I asked God to meet me right here in my life and show what He wanted me to know and learn and experience.
Minutes later I was back to the reality of the busy morning and feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated as I ran frantically from room to room trying to get everything ready for everyone. I started this conversation with myself, "And what about me? Huh? What is anyone doing for me? I do and do and do for everyone around here to make everything perfect and special and no one ever thinks about how much I put into it. Nobody has any idea how much time and thought and energy I put into this kind of stuff. There was the brunch reservations and the easter basket shopping and the egg decorating and getting up in the middle of the night to hide the silly eggs and the..."
And then right there in the middle my sad and pathetic and self-righteous pity party the Holy Spirit met me. And He answered my morning prayer by teaching me with this verse that rang loudly in my head..."For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28
I wonder what it must have felt like for Jesus, who came to this earth to do and do and do for everyone else, only to be treated and crucified like a criminal. But He was so amazing because He came, fully God, not to be served like a King, but to serve and even give his life for us.
God, help me to remember how you came to serve and help me to serve you and others with a more humble and happy heart.