Lenten Family Ritual

Kids love rituals and traditions.  I do too...in theory.  In actuality, I'm consistent at very few things in life (have you noticed I blog in spurts?), so having to remember a ritual and find the time to fit it in rarely happens. 

In the Christian church, the 40 days leading up to Easter (not including Sundays) are considered the season of Lent.  A lot of Christians use this time to either give something up as a sacrifice (like not eating chocolate) or to engage in a new spiritual discipline (like reading the Bible daily).  While I may not be consistent year round, I can manage to do something for 40 days.  Thus our Lenten Family Ritual...

1.  We light a candle.  (Candles make everything special, right?  We've actually started lighting two candles so we don't have to deal with tantrums over who gets to blow it out.)

2.  We cuddle on the couch, read a story from the Spark Bible and talk about it.  (We like this one because it has pictures, easy text, and covers a lot of ground.)

3.  We gather around our prayer cross (butcher paper) and share our prayers.  (We use 3 types of prayers:  Please God..., Thank you God..., and I'm sorry God...)  After they say a prayer we all say "Amen" and then write it on the cross in a simple form.  (They like to chose the spot where we write it.)

4.  We sit in a circle, hold hands, and say the Lord's Prayer.  (Liliana didn't know it when we started, but she's caught on!  We end it by shouting "And the whole Johnson family says AMEN!!!!" and throw our hands up in the air.)

5.  We blow out the candle.

Simple, requires no prep, takes about 15 minutes of our night and the kids LOVE it!  And I love that we're spending intentional, quality family time together and creating lasting memories, while helping our children grow in faith.

You can still do family rituals without it having to be a Christian thing too...just adapt.  For instance, you could light a candle, read a storybook together, and share your best and worst parts of your day.  Consistent, quality family time is the goal!