Friday, March 04, 2011

Lenten activity for our family

[I'm a bit hesitant to post this, since by doing this I feel like I'm negating the spirit of what we're trying to accomplish; however, since several people IRL have asked me about this project, I am tossing this out there on the off-chance that it might interest someone else.]

Our family is going to try something new this year for Lent. In order to teach all of us the joy of offering little sacrifices for Jesus, we are going to use a "sacrifice poster."

Here is the poster (Christopher did a great job with the crown of thorns!) that we are going to hang on our kitchen door. The kids have been hard at work making a basketful of paper flowers that we will keep on the counter, along with MANY rolls of tape.



The object is simple: We are going to try to do little things out of love for Jesus every single day. When we do, we are going to s..n..e..a..k.. into the kitchen and find a way to put a flower on the crown without anyone seeing us do it. It will truly be something that only God knows about.

I can't tell you how excited we are to try this!

I am horrible at suffering in silence, or doing something nice for someone without saying something about it. I need a visual reminder like this... and a whole lot of grace... to get me started. My husband, on the other hand, could easily fill this crown up all by himself. He is an amazing man who does so much for others without ever bringing attention to himself.

I don't think the older kids will need any prompting -- they are so eager to do this! For the little ones, however, I think I'll have to catch them doing nice things and encourage them to put a flower on the poster.

If you have any other great Lenten activities you'd like to share, please leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you!

4 comments:

Beth said...

What an awesome idea!! And Christopher did a FABULOUS job on that crown. and who wrote the bible verse? Because that is awesome handwriting. I can't wait to hear how it goes. I think my kids might be too young, but maybe I'll try something like this with Madeleine. I bet she'd go for it. Thanks for the idea!

Ouiz said...

Thank you! I'll tell him you said that! I did the handwriting, so thank you again.

I'm going to have to really watch the little ones closely, so they can participate as well. You're right -- I don't think Grace would get the hang of making little sacrifices for Jesus!

Therese said...

I love this idea Ouiz. I have a few ideas and will be putting them on my blog tomorrow. Right now it is time for me to go to bed.

Unknown said...

Beautiful job, Ouiz! I can't wait to see how it goes!

And I will lay you money, right now, that Grace will s..n..e..a..k.. in and take flowers off the crown. ;D

Tell Christopher great job on the crown, and as usual, you did a perfectly lovely job on the handwriting!