The season of Lent is coming. While still in the sleepy, transitional, we-have-a-one-month-old-in-our-home stage of life, I'm also trying to prepare. To gather supplies and ideas. To ready my heart as well as intentionally teach our children the faith. Some seasons of life lend themselves to this ideal more easily, but as we approach Ash Wednesday, I find myself excited. The seasons of the church year provide the topics for our speech, for the lessons I desire to teach our children, for the ways we spend our days. The shift in season jolts me out of spiritual sleepiness and into action.
We have a family altar. In reality, it is a small table in the corner, covered by a crocheted banner of a cross and Easter lily my mother made for me when I graduated with my diaconal certification. We use the table to hold our bibles, prayer books, hymnals, etc. that we use daily. In front of the table is a kneeler we rescued from a church that had closed. Above the kneeler are two icons we bought for each other when we married. And in the corner is our collection of vases and crystal candle holders. I've always found this cluster of glass to be a prayer prompt of sorts. Those empty vessels inspire my heart to pray, "Come fill us Lord. We are easily broken and empty." It seems an especially appropriate prayer as we enter the season of Lent.
I've been gathering ideas from all over the internet for celebrating Lent (and Easter) with our children. We went to the Dollar Store today to see what supplies would fit with my ideas. We'll be making a crown of thorns out of the wreath, using toothpicks. I thought the butterfly foam cut outs would make lovely Easter decorations (and my girls love to glue on just about anything). I think I'll save the crowns for Christ the King Sunday in November...I had seen a mother make a sort of Lenten wreath (similar to an Advent wreath). She had a family Pascal candle in the center. When I saw this particular candle at the Dollar Store, I thought that would be a perfect fit. My husband is hoping we can decorate it with some appropriate symbols. Another idea I had see was to plant grass seed in small pots and they should have sprouted and grown by Easter. As we wait for the grass to sprout, we can talk to our girls about Christ being buried in the tomb, and coming out of the darkness with new life. I had meant to do this with paper whites or amaryllis bulbs, but grass seed is cheaper, I don't have a green thumb and I forgot to plan ahead. Maybe next year...I hope to share our other ideas as they come to fruition.
How do you celebrate Lent?
