Lent

Lent is a time of spiritual reflection and correction. Certainly we should turn away from sin at all times in the year, but Lent gives us the official time to determine our spiritual needs and address them.  Some people need to stop doing something and others need to start doing something. It is a time of discipline and it comes around every year.

It seems there are two areas we can work on before God. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Lent is a perfect time to tackle a little spiritual growth in both areas. Loving God can take on the face of many spiritual practices, prayer, fasting, bible study, bible memorization, daily devotion to name only a few. These disciplines draw us closer to God and we enter into a loving relationship with Him as a result.

Children can be taught the discipline of loving God. Simple spiritual practices can be learned in the six weeks of Lent. If you don’t pray before meals, Lent would be a good time to start. Add a prayer before bed or before school. Lent is a time to learn to acknowledge our sins and repent of them. Children can learn to take responsibility for their sins and to ask for forgiveness. The memorization of simple prayers or scripture is a lovely spiritual discipline for Lent.

Learning to love your neighbor seems a little more difficult. Children need hands on, practical acts of love. Talk is fine, but means very little to children. Children’s stories are not about ideas, they are about events, often events of minuscule importance to adults, but events none the less.  Action is what sticks in their minds. Take action with your children. Make a practice of taking the neighbors emptied trash can up to the top of their drive on each trash day of Lent. Plant some rye grass in a little pot at the beginning of Lent and by Easter you will have a bright patch of grass to hide little eggs in and give away as a centerpiece.

Put your child in charge of clearing the dinner plates after each meal as a way to serve the family. Any child over the age of 3 years can do this, but I wouldn’t use the best china.  Since a 3 year old can do that, just think of what a 6 or 7 year old can do. Learning to serve the family is the first step in learning to serve all of God’s creation. Expressing thankfulness to others is a starting point. Ask your children to thanks the cafeteria ladies at school each day when they get their lunch. Thank the child or adult who helps them into the car at the after school car line.

Children will learn to love their neighbor only if they see it done by someone important to them. Parents and grandparents must model loving others, thanking others and forgiving others. We need to model loving God’s creation and respecting those we don’t like and don’t agree with if we want our children to do the same.

Explain to your children that it will make them a stronger person to learn to pray and to learn to work hard for others. Then, show them how to pray and how to work hard for others. Walk with them on the path that leads to the celebration of God’s love and hard work for us  - Easter.

Peace,
Michelle