With less than a handful of days until Easter Sunday I saw my first lily yesterday. I was wondering what became of them. Lilies at Easter are like poinsettias at Christmas. The day can go on without them but they would be missed.

Even though I live alone and my most frequent visitors are the mailman and the UPS driver, I still have the place properly decorated for the season. I have my plastic eggs nestled in my plastic grass in my plastic basket. The plastic wreath is bedecked with silk flowers. It’s quite a display, just missing a lily or three. Now they have finally hit the stores I can pick up one or two and finish off the scene at my front door.

Why, if I have no compunction to displaying artificial anything and everything else, do I wait for the real thing when it comes to the Easter lily? Because those other things are merely the lead to the great day itself. The lily is the first symbol of new the life this time heralds and by Sunday will be joined by other welcoming signs of the season.

The Easter lily is said to have been born of the tears Eve wept as she was leaving the Garden of Eden and were the first signs of repentance, which is the whole idea of Lent leading to the great day itself. It is also said that they grew where Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed before His betrayal after the Last Supper. In both occasions they symbolize purity, innocence, and hope of a new life.

Yep, it’s a good thing those racks of lilies have finally shown up at the greenhouses and flower shops and supermarkets. You wouldn’t want to miss them this weekend.

That’s what I think. Really. How ‘bout you?