Does it surprise anyone else that it is time for Lent again? As I looked back on what we did last year for Lent I kept finding it hard to believe that a year has already passed. But here we are again at the beginning of another beautiful time of the Church year, another period of preparation.
As we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord through the disciplines of; repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we remember and emphasize that all our sins have already been atoned for. So it is with joy and thanksgiving that we observe the practices of Lent, not out of obligation. For some of us it’s a time to hold the mirror up to our faces and behold once again what a sad state we are in and cling to our forgiveness.
It isn’t because the calendar says “Lent” that we suddenly begin to “feel sorry for our sin”. Our sin is ever before us…all year long. I know I don’t need Lent to tell me how wretched of a sinner I am. Life is a season of “Lent” of repentance and absolution, of constantly running to the cross…or it should be.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
But because I’m such a sinner, I don’t always hold His cross before my closing eyes, so I’m thankful that the Church sets this specific time aside to remember the great suffering of our Lord and to wallow in all the forgiveness Jesus’ suffering won for us. A specific time to sit and know how little we deserve and to give thanks for Christ’s great mercy.
The Crown of Thorns countdown calendar is back on our liturgical table this year. I need to add more thorns, but I’m having a hard time getting them to stay, so I kind of gave up. This year we will remove a thorn each day and say a prayer of thanks for a different way Christ suffered for us.
Also on our table, this little church bank Lily made for us to collect coins to take to church either each week or on Easter Sunday and Mary kindly reminding us to pray!
I also plan on using our spiral calendar that Grandpa Neil made us. I still haven’t found candles to fit in the holes, but I think I’ll use some tea lights instead, lighting one each night before supper. I love the Christ figure he made, we’ll move him around the spiral closer and closer to Holy Week.
For Holy Week I made markers for certain days. Clara is finding it very hard to not play with them! As we light the candles we’ll sing:
“On my heart imprint Thine image,
Blessèd Jesus, King of Grace,
That life’s riches, cares and pleasures
Never may Your work erase;
Let the clear inscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me,
Is my Life, my hope’s Foundation,
And my Glory and Salvation.”
This is another calendar the girls are using. They’ll color one of the squares purple each day and we’ll say a prayer for someone. I write in each square who we prayed for. Simple, but they love it. You can find one here.
I also made a “wipe board” and will use this to keep a list of our memory verse for Lent, Romans 5:8b, the hymns we’re learning and our prayer list.
We’ll also be using a “Jesus Tree“, the idea is the same as the “Jesse Tree” we used during Advent. Each evening we’ll read through the Gospels, learning more about what Jesus did while on Earth and hang an ornament that corresponds to each story. There are kits you can buy somewhere to make the ornaments, but I’m just making them out of paper on my own.
We hang one up each night on the tree Grandpa made us for Advent.
The turtledoves for yesterday’s story, The Presentation.
My personal plans are pretty simple: to finish some of the books I’ve been reading (and hope to get a new one to start) and continue memorizing the Psalms.
This is a little Psalter I made to help me memorize. I’m working on getting this ready to share with all of you so you can make one for yourself if you’d like. It’s been a wonderful tool.
And now for some back tracking. Video from our snow day a couple weeks ago!
Blessed Lent to you all!
Oh my goodness, Aubri. I am so shamed. We do nothing for Lent.
Jenny, my husband would say, that’s because you have a strong faith. I say…girl, get to hobby lobby and get your Lent on!
No, I only do these things for our kiddos, I see Lent as another chance to teach them about Jesus’ life and suffering, but of course these are things we teach them year round. Plus, I just like any excuse to get out the markers and construction paper.
Aubri, that spiral calendar is SWEEEEET. Does your dad/father-in-law take orders? Also, your memorizing the Psalm brought back memories of college. I used to walk to my place of employment (an antique store) and memorize the Psalms, intending to eventually memorize all 150. I got to Psalm 5. I like your memorization schedule…
Oops, I checked my blog email right after I sent you that note. Thanks! I’ll post my Family Altar post soon!