We're so busy.
Before the egg hunts and bunnies, let's pause.
We all need a moment, right?
How we approach Lent and Easter as parents may be a bit different than before having children. Adapted from Kayla Craig from her book To Light Their Way (p. 146-7) (a wonderful resource about faith formation as a family), we invite you to read and share this prayer:
O Lord, we come to You,
Aware that we have busied ourselves and our family
With full schedules brimming
With places to go and people to see.
But in doing so, we have forgotten You
And Your love
And the mission You have breathed into our lives.
We have chosen the way
Of instant gratification
And of avoidance,
Choosing an abundance of distraction
Over a reliance on You.
O Lord, we come to You,
Unsure of how to best observe Lent.
But even in our unsteady footing,
We come to You,
Arms trembling with the weight
We have taken on—
Weight that was never ours to hold.
O Lord, we want more than this for our kids,
And we thank You that it’s never too late
For us to reorient our hearts to You.
O Lord, we examine our hearts—
Every worry,
Every shortcoming,
Every harbored animosity,
Every selfish act,
Every judgment.
Help us not to pick at our scabs,
But help us rip off the bandage
So that our wounds may heal, O Lord.
Shape our hearts
And the hearts of our children
To look like Yours, O God.
Our culture has beckoned us with shiny objects
And faster internet speed
And we’ve grown accustomed to more
Instead of a daily repentance to—
And reliance on—You.
Help us know what to let go of
And what holy habits to seek.
Help us hunger and thirst for Your Kingdom.
May we teach our children what it is to go without.
We humbly admit the ways we need You,
And the ways are many, O Lord.
Help us resist temptation
And ignite in our family new ways
To join You in acts of mercy and love
To those around us,
In our communities and our streets.
Illuminate the way, O Lord,
For the paths are rocky and the sky is dark.
Illuminate in us
Our need for Your great light.
And may You shine upon our family’s faces
So that our children
Follow Your everlasting light,
For You are the way.
During this season of Lent, O Lord, we turn away from the ways of this world
And the lies of the evil one.
We put ourselves and our children into Your hands
And follow You,
The One who leads from death into life.
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