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One early spring evening when my children were young, my eight-year-old son Philip was at his little league baseball game, and my five-year-old son Timmy was playing with a friend on our front porch while I finished washing the dinner dishes. We would soon go to the game as spectators and applauders.

Easter, commemorating Jesus’ resurrection after his crucifixion, is central to Christianity. Before I became a student of Christian Science, I thought Easter was a sad occasion.

A high school English teacher of mine earnestly loved and appreciated everything Shakespeare. She had a wonderful talent for instilling that enthusiasm in her students, including me.

We all have experienced times of poor health, financial worries, or disruptions in our ability to think and act normally, at one time or another. Responding to these challenges with prayer as practiced in Christian Science begins with identifying what is really going on.

“So as we pray, we can gratefully acknowledge that the healing we’re seeking will surely come.”

Growing up in an era where the stories were about the beautiful princess meeting her handsome prince and living happily ever after, that’s what I expected—and desperately wanted. Starting in early high school, I would “fall in love,” only to find that there were qualities about the person I had fallen for that I didn’t like at all.

It is with deep gratitude to God and for learning to pray the way it is taught in Christian Science that I offer this testimony. A number of years ago, our brother left home to go and learn a trade from our uncle in a foreign country.

A year or so ago, during the Easter school holidays, I received visitors at our family residence. The plan was for them to stay for two weeks.

As a child attending the Christian Science Sunday School, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that the real meaning of Easter had nothing to do with bunnies or chocolates. It also wasn’t just an event that many in the world commemorated once a year at a certain date.

Jesus’ victory over the grave is, of course, the central event of the Easter story. But there are many other inspiring aspects of this narrative as well.