Busting out of a Prayer Rut

Does your family ever get stuck in a prayer rut?

Ours sounds like this...

"Dear God, thanks for legos..." "...and cookies..." "...and our dog..." "...and my best friend..." "...and cookies..." 
"Hey!  I already said that!"
"Well I can say it too!"
"Can not!!"
"Alrighty then, there goes family prayer time.  Off to bed you little cretins, before I really give you something to pray about!"

Not exactly what God was hoping to hear.

Sometimes our family prayer rut gets so deep and disappointing that we take a break from it for awhile.  Then, weeks later, I think to ask, "Hey, kiddos, you're praying to God on your own, right?"

Silence.  

Whoops.

That's not what God was hoping to hear, either.

So... how do we get out of the prayer vacuum or prayer rut this Lenten season?

Here are a few ideas for you and your family.

Lenten Prayer Chain

from Mustard Seeds — a great blog about building kids' faith

You've probably done a few count-down paper chains in your lifetime.  This is more of a count-up chain.

Each day during Lent take a minute as a family to individually write a prayer on a strip of colorful construction paper (8.5" x 1.5" is a nice size for jotting down a quick note to God).  Staple the first strip in a circle.  Subsequent strips slide through the previous circle, then formed into a circle and stapled.  (You probably didn't need that much direction, but there it is.  Just in case.)

Throughout the 40 days of Lent, watch your prayers grow.  Estimate how many prayers it would take for the chain to reach heaven.  (This is a trick question.  Do you know the answer?)

There is no rule that you can only write one prayer a day.  Except for maybe you have to cut your own extra strips.

You might have a few prayer prompts on hand to encourage your kids to think of different kinds of prayers.  

Dear God, 

• thanks for...
• I need help with...
• I am so glad that...
• I wonder about...
• I'm scared of...
• please take care of...

print me!

Hey, maybe I should just whip up a quick printable of those prayer prompts.  Here you go!!

On Easter you might disassemble the chain and review the prayers.  Which ones has God already answered or started to work on?  Give him big thanks!!

Alternatives to a prayer chain include writing prayers on slips of paper and hanging them

Modern Parents, Messy Kids

from a tree, mantle, or chandelier.  Egg-shaped or cross-shaped slips of paper would be cute, if you can stand cutting them all out, or if you can get your hands on a nifty large paper punch, or if you have some Martha Stewart- esque minions on hand!

Lenten Journal

from Stone Soup for Five — brilliant Bible journaling ideas!

After dinner each night, or as part of the bedtime routine, or once a week on Sundays after church (or, really, any convenient time of day for your brood), take 10-15 minutes for a Bible reading & response routine.  If you like, capitalize it to sound really important.  Like this: Bible Reading & Response Routine.  Or turn it into an acronym: BRRR.  Hey kids, it's time to BRRR!

Back to business.  

To create a reverent mood, play soothing music in the background or light a candle.  Provide each family member with a small journal or notebook.  As a family read a Bible verse aloud.  Then quietly write (or illustrate) a response to God.  What did you hear God saying to you in the verse?  What words or phrases seem most important in your own life?  Can you use those words from the Bible in your own prayer?  

You might use these questions as journal prompts:

"I hear you, God, saying..."
"Hear me saying, God..."

Kids will probably need to see some examples of turning scripture into prayer.  Here's a model you can share.  Your own examples will be powerful as well.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."   Matthew 16:24

The words that stick out for me are highlighted here:

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

You can see how those words become a part of my written prayer below:

Jesus, I do want to follow you.  My heart and soul want to, but my actions don't always match those of one of your followers.  It is so hard to deny myself.  Will you please help me to look beyond my own interests and needs, and look up to you instead?  I'm not sure exactly what my cross is.  I guess it is my burden, the things that wear me out and drag me down.  It could be the things that get in the way of my relationship with you.  Please help me to figure out what my cross is, to take it up and carry it so I can do a better job of following your example of how to live a life of loving others.

Here are several Easter verses for your BRRR sessions, in no particular order:

John 19:1-3 • John 19:28-30 • John 10:10-11 • Luke 23:27 • Psalms 34:8 • John 3:16 • Isaiah 1:18 • John 3:1-3 • Matthew 27:57-60 • Matthew 27:65-66 • John 16:20, 22 • Matthew 28:1-9

What I love about both of these activities is they force us to slow down our prayers, to capture them on paper.  As a result, we become more reverent and thoughtful in our conversations with God.  And with a paper trail, we can also look back and see how God works on our prayers, even when we weren't paying attention.  

Lord,

You are so very good to us.  Thank you for patiently listening to every prayer.  Thank you for patiently waiting during our prayer droughts and prayer ruts.  And thank you for continually filling us with your Holy Spirit and your Living Word to bring our prayers to a place of deeper conversation with you.  Help us to model a faithful and dedicated prayer habit for our children during this Lenten season and well beyond. 

Amen

Sins Swallowed Up (and a chance to win your own Repentence Box!)

This is the second in a series of ideas for Lenten devotions and activities.  Whatever you do (or don't do) during Lent, I pray your journey to the Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is filled with the love, peace, and amazing grace of God.

Sometimes, when you are a random abstract person, you come across a great idea, seize it and hug it and love the fuzz off of it, and then — when you want to share it with the masses or at least a handful of friends — you can't find the original source for all the searching in the world and it's enough to make you scream or slay dust bunnies or cross your eyes and foam at the mouth and lay in a frumpy heap on the floor in the middle of the slaughtered dust bunnies.  Can you tell I'm in a bit of a tizzy about this?  Today this random abstract source-seeking person is me, and the English teacher in me is none too happy about potential plagiarism.  My legal-minded Mister wouldn't be happy either.  Intellectual property and all.

That said, this is NOT my idea.  And if you know where it comes from and whom I can credit, please do share and assuage my guilt.

There.  I've laid my plagiarism sin bare.  I promise to try and track sources better from here on out.  And I beg forgiveness from the originator of... The Magical Sin Swallowing Box.

Okay, that's not what it was originally called.  I'll take credit for the name.  But that's as far as I can go.

As we journey through Lent and look to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, the biggest thing I want my kids to realize is how big, how powerful, how cleansing Jesus' loving forgiveness is.   

We are all sinners, stuck in mistakes (plagiarism and worse), lost on our own.  Jesus knows that.  He loves us in spite of that.  And that love — God's love — carried him through his darkest hours of crucifixion.  And because he gave his life for us, we get a clean slate every time we repent and return to God.  Every time.  

We get to cuddle in close to God even when we're dirty and stained and streaked with tears.  He doesn't say, "Hey, not so close to the shining white robes," or give us a scolding look.  He looks over at Jesus, they shrug their shoulders and smile at one another in knowing fashion, and then God pulls us in close and cleans away our dirty sins with a heavenly hankie: the grace of Jesus' sacrifice. 

It takes a bit of imagination and a lot of faith to trust in that forgiveness and salvation.  My kiddos — a lot of people — benefit from a visual aid to reinforce the idea.

And that's where the Magical Sin Swallowing Box comes in.

During Lent, we...

1. Write our sins on dirty gray hearts. 
2. We confess our mistakes and offer up our hurting hearts to God, asking him to forgive us and renew us as only he can.  
3. Then we slip those scraps of sin into a shoebox.  
4. As we let the paper go, we ask God to help us truly let the sin go, to erase the hurt and the guilt and the distance from God in our hearts, our heads, our souls, to help us embrace his forgiveness and grace.
5. And then we repeat.  Often.  

Forty days of sins released fills up our box.  Then on Easter morning, we open the sealed box.  And where one might expect to see dozens of gray hearts, scribbled with sin, what God gives us is this...

A box of clean, white hearts.  Clean slates.  Do-overs.  Invitations to come to him pure and clean and forgiven.  God doesn't just forgive our sins.  He forgets them.  All we have to do is repent and believe.

 
You are wondering what happened to the gray, sin-filled hearts.  This is where the magic comes in.  That shoe box has been outfitted with a hidden compartment.  The sin-filled hearts are trapped in a 1/2" deep cardboard tray glued inside the lid of the box.  Sneaky, eh?  (I am mildly afraid that this is the year my kids will figure it out.  If that happens, I'll turn it into a lesson on dimensions and measurement...)

Here's how you make the box.

1. Procure a good, old-fashioned shoe box. 
2. Measure the inside length and width of the lid.  Add 1" to both measurements (this will give you an extra 1/2" on each side to fold up and glue to the lid, making a 1/2" secret compartment).
3. Cut a rectangle of cardboard (an empty cereal box works nicely) according to your original lid measurement + 1" ( this becomes your secret compartment bottom).
   
4. Draw a line 1/2" inside each edge.
5. Cut away a 1/2" square from each corner.
6. Go over the 1/2" lines with a boning knife (or a ball point pen) to create a narrow groove which will make it easier to fold the cardboard.
7. Fold the 1/2" cardboard edges up at a 90° angle.
8. Cut a cross-shaped slit in the center of the box lid and the secret compartment bottom.  An Exacto knife or box cutter makes easy work of this step.  Make the slit about 1/8" wide, at the most.  If it's too wide, the secret compartment might be obvious.
9. Wrap the box and the lid in wrapping paper.  
10. Warm up your glue gun or get out some rubber cement or tacky glue.  You want an adhesive that will set quickly and securely.  Apply a line of glue on the inside of the lid, along the sides about 1/4" away from the top.



You can print this for free.  Wheeee!

11. Slide the secret compartment into place and hold until the glue sets.
12. Once the secret compartment is in place, you can have the kiddos decorate the Swallowing Sin Box.  We just put a simple Bible verse on ours, but Easter stickers, crosses, or pictures of Jesus would all be snazzy.
13. Cut hearts from gray paper.  We do 40 hearts for each family member, enough for one a day if we're diligent and consistent.  We use a paper punch for this, which makes the heart cutting go MUCH faster.
14. In secret, well after the kids are asleep, cut out the white hearts.
15. Put the white hearts in the box and seal it.  You can break out the glue gun again for this step.  Wheeee!

And if that strikes you as too much fuss, know that there are other Repentance Box ideas out there.  Such as decorating a box, writing down sins, and then burning the notes on Easter day.  Or this... one of many inspiring ideas from Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience.

Family Repentance Box

Much simpler.  But no hot glue guns are involved.  And I do love my hot glue gun.

How ever you encourage your family to name, claim, and surrender their sins, may you and your loved ones know that saving power of God's forgiveness and grace this Lenten season.

P.S.  
Leave a comment about this post and you will be in the running for one 4 3/4" x 7 3/8" Magical Sin Swallowing Box made by yours truly, complete with secret compartment, 160 dirty gray hearts, and 160 clean white hearts.  I will ship said box to you, the randomly chosen winner, a.s.a.p.  My posts typically average 0.03 responses, so this shouldn't be too tough.  Best of luck!

Jelly Beans & Jesus

This is the first in a series of ideas for Lenten devotionals and activities.  Whatever you do (or don't do) during Lent, I pray your journey to the Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is filled with the love, peace, and amazing grace of God.

I firmly believe that if jelly beans were around in Jesus' time, he would have adored them.

"Let all the children come to me.  I've got jelly beans and love and hope!"

He would for sure have had a jelly bean parable or two.  "The kingdom of God is like a jelly bean, smaller than any other delectable treat, but full of juicy, colorful goodness that you can't even imagine until you bite into it..."

In the absence of any official words from Jesus about jelly beans, I'm filling in the blanks with inspiration from various sources around the Internet, all starting from the original Jelly Bean Prayer by Shirley Kozak.

So, without further ado, here's a post about putting some theology into the kiddos' Easter treats with just a few easy steps.  Print something here, grab some beans at the store, find some jars in the cupboard, and you are ready to roll.

Now, I'm all for a prayer and a fistful of jelly beans.  But I like to add an extra, devotional angle to this.  Here's how the jelly bean prayer works at our house.  (If you want to join in the fun, you can click on the card images to download and print them, assuming the technology works...)

We have a big ol' jar of beans decorated with the Jelly Bean Prayer.  On the back of the prayer card is a list of Jelly Bean Activities.

Each morning the kiddos read the prayer card aloud.  Then they each pick out a jelly bean from the jar and place it in their individual jars.  The color they picked determines the Lenten activity for the day.  (They work really hard to keep a balance of colors going.  It's one area of their lives where they practice fairness with admirable consistency!)

Then they look for opportunities to do their Lenten "assignment" during the day.  We usually report back during dinner or before bedtime prayers.  It makes for a great platform for discussion where we saw God in our day.  It's like a Lenten "show & tell."





And because I rarely do anything the same way twice, this year I'm adding a Bible verse component.  We read a verse that relates to the line of the prayer and/or the activity.  Nothing like filling them up with some verses to go with those candy beans.




Wait.

This IS all about candy, right? 

When do they eat the jelly beans?

I'm so glad you asked.  Because this is one of my favorite parts of this activity.

They don't eat the candy until... wait for it...

Easter morning.  It's a delicious practice in delayed gratification.  In seeing how their faith-filled actions pile up.  In witnessing how God fills them with love and grace. They are the empty jars.  And when they tune into God, he fills them with bright and juicy goodness.

Now, I sense you are shaking your head in disbelief.  "My kids will never, ever, not in a million years WAIT to eat those beans."  Did I read your mind?  No, I don't have ESP.  (I wish!!)  But I did think that very same thing when we started this at our house.  But those darling kiddos, they surprised me.  Even my sweet-stashing daughter didn't snatch an early jelly bean.  Not one.  She even counted them all at the end to make sure she didn't miss any days.

I chalk it up as one of God's modern day miracles.  That's the way God works in us and on us.  In our weakness his power is made perfect.  In our jelly beans he shows us his love.

Adapted from an earlier post: February 29, 2012

Looking toward Lent

 Lent is almost here.  I savor this season of paring down and looking up.  It's like a total body cleanse for the soul.  And while I always fall short of my spiritual goals for this church season, I usually find myself so much closer to God in the end.

When I was a young and naive Christian newbie, I thought Lent was all about dieting in the name of Jesus.  I gave up chocolate.  Candy.  Desserts.  Invariably I'd have a hedonistic sugar binge sometime (okay, multiple times) during the 40-day deprivation.  It didn't make me feel closer to God, just full of crud — in my stomach and in my weak, weak soul. 

Nowadays I'm not super keen on giving something up for Lent, especially when Valentine's Day falls on the heels of Ash Wednesday.  (Maybe this is the year Mister comes home with a heart-shaped box of chocolate??)  Instead, I try to give up my distracted ways and attempt to give more attention to God.  

The good Lord knows I need a LOT of help in this area.  I think that's one of the reasons he gave me my beautiful kids.  Nurturing my children's faith keeps me more honest and consistent about communing with God than I would ever be on my own.

In the coming days I'll be posting some of the crafty, culinary, and clever things we do around here to draw near to God during Lent.  And I'll post several ideas that we haven't done, but that I'd love to try.  I hope you'll find an idea or two that inspires you and your loved ones.  If you have a favorite Lenten tradition you'd like to add to the mix, please comment about that!

May your Lenten journey to the cross fill you up with God's love, peace, and amazing grace.

Jelly Beans and Jesus

I firmly believe that if jelly beans were around in Jesus' time, he would have adored them.

"Let all the children come to me.  I've got jelly beans and love and hope!"

He would for sure have had a jelly bean parable or two.  "The kingdom of God is like a jelly bean, smaller than any other delectable treat, but full of juicy, colorful goodness that you can't even imagine until you bite into it..."

In the absence of any official words from Jesus about jelly beans, I'm filling in the blanks with inspiration from various sources around the Internet, all starting from the original Jelly Bean Prayer by Shirley Kozak.

So, without further ado, here's a post about putting some theology into the kiddos' Easter treats with just a few easy steps.  Print something here, grab some beans at the store, find some jars in the cupboard, and you are ready to roll.

print me!

Now, I'm all for a prayer and a fistful of jelly beans.  But I like to add an extra, devotional angle to this.  Here's how the jelly bean prayer works at our house.  (If you want to join in the fun, you can click on the card images to download and print them, assuming the technology works...)

We have a big ol' jar of beans decorated with the Jelly Bean Prayer.  On the back of the prayer card is a list of Jelly Bean Activities.

Each morning the kiddos read the prayer card aloud.  Then they each pick out a jelly bean from the jar and place it in their individual jars.  The color they picked determines the Lenten activity for the day.  (They work really hard to keep a balance of colors going.  It's one area of their lives where they practice fairness with admirable consistency!)

print me, too!

Then they look for opportunities to do their Lenten "assignment" during the day.  We usually report back during dinner or before bedtime prayers.  It makes for a great platform for discussion where we saw God in our day.  It's like a Lenten "show & tell."








And because I rarely do anything the same way twice, this year I'm adding a Bible verse component.  We read a verse that relates to the line of the prayer and/or the activity.  Nothing like filling them up with some verses to go with those candy beans.

print me, three!

Wait.

This IS all about candy, right? 

When do they eat the jelly beans?

I'm so glad you asked.  Because this is one of my favorite parts of this activity.

They don't eat the candy until... wait for it...

Easter morning.  It's a delicious practice in delayed gratification.  In seeing how their faith-filled actions pile up.  In witnessing how God fills them with love and grace. They are the empty jars.  And when they tune into God, he fills them with bright and juicy goodness.

Now, I sense you are shaking your head in disbelief.  "My kids will never, ever, not in a million years WAIT to eat those beans."  Did I read your mind?  No, I don't have ESP.  (I wish!!)  I just thought that very same thing when we started this at our house.  But those darling kiddos, they surprised me.  Even my sweet-stashing daughter didn't snitch an early jelly bean.  Not one.  She even counted them all at the end to make sure she didn't miss any days.

I chalk it up as one of God's modern day miracles.  That's the way God works in us and on us.  In our weakness his power is made perfect.  In our jelly beans he shows us his love.

Lent of Living Water

We're a week into Lent. 

Already I feel weak.

I hunger to perfect Lent, to find the most fulfilling way to walk to the cross with Jesus.  I want that closeness with God.  I thirst.

So I have ditched the Diet Coke addiction.  (Coffee, you are safe.  For now...)  I am getting back to drinking more water.  And with every sip of that clean, pure liquid, I am asking God to clean me.  Purify me.  As only he can. 

As I sip this earthly element, I try to immerse myself in God's living water, his living word.  This month it is the promises of Genesis.  This Lent it is the Good News of Mark.  This week it is the compassion of 2 Corinthians.

Source: bing.com via Liz on Pinterest

I bounce around a bit, between Old and New Testaments.  I bounce over the words, searching for the ones that grab my heart, soothe my soul.  

Some days they do.

Today they don't.  

I feel the lack.  I feel my weakness.  Frustration creeps in and crumples my hope.

I have a choice: steep in this stagnation or wait on the word.  Bitterness or patience.  Oh, God, give me the patience.  Help me to find a foothold in your better way.  Fill me with trust that you will transform me in your perfect timing. 

Because Lent is not about me perfecting an earthly habit.  It is about me trusting God's perfect and heavenly plan.  My Lenten habit — your Lenten habit — is only a petition, a platform, for God to do his work in us.  Some days we will try and in the trying we will see God.  Some days we will try but our search will be cloudy.  And other days we will forget.  Fail.  Fall.  But every day God is there to pick us up, to hold us, to help us. 

And when I realize that, that is when an old verse, tucked away in a corner of my mind comes to the surface. 

Psalm 43:5

Why be downcast?  Why be disturbed?  Let those feelings fall away.  Instead, lean into the Lord.  "Put your hope in God."  Relax in his loving hold, his gracious help.  

Today the word was not where I was looking, but where God had planted it.  Just when I give up to weakness, God gives his grace.  That is what I learn from Lent, each and every year.  Because at the end of the twisting, rocky path, there is the glory of Easter morn.

May God's help and hope lead us all the way to the cross.