Expecting Easter: Scent of Mary's Perfume

Here is a picture collage

of our front porch display

for this Spring:

We have our

Hill of Calvary garden present,

as well as a Spring Cactus I embellished

with a
"He has Risen!" tag.

But I would like to draw you attention

to the simple wreath on the back

of the chair.

On it is a wooden cross I decorated

during one of our

Expecting Easter lessons.

For our homeschool Expecting Easter lessons this year,

I am using...

...A Sense of the Resurrection:

An Easter Experience for Families

by

Amanda White.

This devotional is very family friendly,

with tons of great hands-on ideas

to bring Easter alive for your kiddos.

Amanda uses the five senses

to experience the Easter story.

We are using this ebook as the base of our lessons,

but I have definitely been "tweaking" the activities

to fit our family...

***

This lesson used the sense of smell

in conjunction with

John 12:1-8.

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany,

where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served,

while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume;

she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,

who was later to betray him, objected,

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?

It was worth a year’s wages.” 

He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief;

as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied.

“It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

After reading the passage

and discussing it with the kiddos...

...I passed around several of my favorite

Young Living Essential Oils

for the kiddos to smell.

The plan was for them to decorate a wooden cross

from the craft store

with Modge Podge and pieces of scrapbook paper,

and then add some of the drops of oil

to the cross.

That way the smell would remind them

of this Bible story.

But my kiddos olfactory senses are weird.  

They preferred the smell of the glue,

so I just let them use the glue

as their "smelly" reminder...

***

Up next on Expecting Easter:

Seeing Like a Servant