"If there's one word that summarizes Easter, it's the word, 'Surprise!' All four evangelists, while emphasizing different aspects of the Easter story, all make one thing clear: Jesus' resurrection was a big surprise not only for his enemies, but even for his closest followers."

"One fitting way to celebrate Easter, then, is to surprise people. We can begin by surprising ourselves, by doing something we don't ordinarily do. If we never read short stories, we might read one. If we've never eaten tofu, we could try it. The options are almost unlimited: we could write a poem, sign up for a pottery class, play cards, go dancing, visit an art museum, work on our family tree, buy a hibiscus plant. What's the point of surprising ourselves during the Easter season? It is one way for us to get out of our rut or (if you will) out of our "tomb," that is, our usual way of doing things. Surprising ourselves is one way for us to grow, to be enlivened, and to stretch beyond where we are. What an Easter kind of thing to do!"

To Practice: Try one of these options or one of your own to surprise yourself and someone else.

Melannie Svoboda in Everyday Epiphanies