I wasn’t much of a plant lady until after I had my first son. It seems that nurturing a little boy likewise instilled in me a desire to nurture plants. I like to think that God gave women an innate desire to plant, water, and care for life as a whole.
This newfound love for the botanical things in life means that more than dying eggs or cutting out rabbit-shaped ears, my favorite Easter tradition for the littles in my life is creating a Resurrection Garden.
If you’ve heard of fairy gardens, potted plants decorated with little trinkets and figurines that tell their own story, a Resurrection Garden is much the same. But the story it tells is much more powerful than anything a few woodland animals and light-up mushroom decor could ever draft.
Scripture’s Emphasis on Gardens
Consider Scripture and the important role that plants and gardens play throughout, both literally and metaphorically:
-Life began in the Garden of Eden, a garden that God planted Himself (Genesis 2:8).
-Christ calls His Father “the gardener” (John 15:1).
-Our faith in Christ’s power is compared to a mustard seed (Mark 4:31-32).
-Our calling to share the gospel is illustrated through planting and watering, and God using our obedience is referenced as Him having the sole authority to make souls “sprout and grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
-At the close of Revelation, we see the Tree of Life once more, restored and dwelling in God’s New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:14).
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we celebrate the crux of our faith and salvation, the resurrection of Christ, just as Spring emerges. New life engulfs everything around us, the perfect imagery of the eternal life we have in Jesus. Naturally, this creates the perfect opportunity for you to invest in a Christian-centered garden activity with your family.
Load the kids up and take a trip to the local greenhouse (or Lowe's or Home Depot), grab the supplies I’ll list below, and spend the evening outside. Get your hands in the dirt and create a beautiful display of the most life-giving story ever told!
Supplies
I love that this is a budget-friendly Easter activity. I also love that if you’re a gardener or enjoy tending plants, you will likely have most of the supplies already on your porch or in your shed.
To create a Resurrection Garden, you will need:
-1 clay/teracotta flower pot (The larger the pot, the larger your garden. I recommend no more than an eight-inch pot, especially for little ones.)
-1 bag of gardening soil (size depending on how many gardens and the size of the gardens you plan to make)
-1 mini clay flower pot (For eight-inch pots, I recommend a mini flower pot no bigger than two inches. To save money, I have also used the plastic mini flower pots that often come with terrarium plants.)
-2 terrarium plants (You might need more, depending on how large your pot is. You need a few to outline one side of the larger clay pot. Mosses also trim the pot well and add a pop of fun color.)
-1 rock (The rock should roughly equal half the circumference of the mouth of the mini clay pot, which will be submerged into the dirt to create the empty tomb. The rock will be the “tomb door” that Jesus rolled away.)
-2 small twigs
-1 small strip of burlap twine (to bind together the two small twigs to create a cross, proportional to the size of your Resurrection Garden)
-1 small strip of white cloth (to fold and place inside the mini clay pot, representing the empty grave clothes)
*Optional: Acrylic-based paints and/or markers (if you want to decorate the outside of your large pot)
Assembly
-Begin by filling your larger clay pot with soil. You want the clay pot to be nearly full, or your display will be half-hidden by the pot's rim.
(It’s important to note here that you consider the type of terrarium plants you purchased. Ensure that the soil you need doesn’t require pebble rocks for extra drainage, which is more common if you selected succulent plants or those that live in drier climates. Selecting the right soil will allow for proper drainage as you water your garden, better protecting your display.)
-Add your terrarium plants to the pot. These serve as the garden's backdrop, like trees shading the tomb. Be careful, however, to plant your plants with roughly 2 inches of space between them. (The first time I made a Resurrection Garden, I planted my terrarium plants right beside each other… and their roots intertwined, and they began to choke each other. Don’t make my mistake!)
-Submerge the mini clay pot halfway into the dirt, nestled near your terrarium plant “trees”. You want enough of the pot resting above the surface so it looks like an empty tomb.
-Place the rock against the edge of the mini clay pot, allowing it to look like the stone was rolled away from the entrance.
-Take two sticks and tie them together using your burlap twine to create a cross, which can be planted in the dirt wherever you would like.
-Fold your small piece of white cloth and place it in the mini pot so it represents the empty grave clothes that were folded and resting inside.
-If you opted to decorate the outside of your larger pot, use acrylic-based paint and/or markers (or even stickers, for littles), and write Scripture verses, draw pictures of butterflies and ladybugs, or create anything else to represent the life we celebrate in Christ, both in nature around us and in our souls.
And there you have it! Your Resurrection Garden is ready to be displayed.
Display
If your family came together to create one larger Resurrection Garden—and the terrarium plants were made to withstand the outdoors in your gardening zone—this makes the perfect decoration for your front porch. If you live somewhere cooler, or if your terrarium plants thrive indoors, find a spot in your house that receives the right amount of sunlight each day and place it there. (Bonus points if your kitchen/dining room table or your entryway table can house the garden as a centerpiece!)
A Resurrection Garden is a beautiful, simple way to showcase the gospel in your home, especially in this Easter season. What I love about this decoration is that, as the terrarium plants grow, you can repot them and keep them, reminding you of each year’s Resurrection Garden. (Believe it or not, I was able to save both of my terrarium plants from my first Resurrection Garden. They are now thriving and serve as the sweetest reminder of my oldest son’s and my first Resurrection Garden we built together!)
Let the simple but powerful message of a Resurrection Garden serve as an Easter tradition in your home, whether your immediate family picks a special night each year to build one together outdoors, or you incorporate this into your extended family’s egg hunt parties. It’s also a great outdoor activity you can use to invite nonbelievers to participate, creating a simple, open space to present the gospel.
Happy planting, and Happy Easter, friends!
Photo Credit: Peyton Garland
