The prayer table – 1st week in lent

Lent is upon us and I thought we would share a peek at our little prayer table and how it looks right now.  It sits off to one side of the living room and the little ones gravitate there when I am working nearby in the kitchen. 

Feb
I loved Ann Voskamp's idea for Ash Wednesday so we began lent there. We had a good talk about the Our Father prayer and really listening to what we are saying when we pray.  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."   Which is essentially saying, Dear Lord, please treat me the way I treat others.  It's a prayer with a bit of a catch.  Sigh. 

Feb

Feb

Alongside the bowl of 'dust' is a bible and a bowl which holds strips of paper with relevant verses to look up.  Last week they were all about forgiveness.  We have had lots of discussion about what forgiveness is and isn't.  As in, forgiving an offense does not mean you approve of it.  Forgiveness also does not mean you must remain in close contact with the offender.  Sometimes that would not be wise nor safe. But we must always, really and truly, let it go inside. 

Feb
Feb

Above the table last week was Ann's printable.  Today it was replaced with this illustration of the week's gospel story about the Temptation of Christ.  There are new bible verses: Download Temptation  We have printed some coloring pages and will use some ideas found here and here this week.  (there are obviously more resources on those two link than ANY one family could do.  We will pick one or two this week.) 

Feb

Learning to Love

"There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving.  You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art." 

– St Francis de Sales

valentine

valentine Little love apprentices at work around here this week.  

Walk in Love

"The lens of loss and trial has a way of bringing blessing into sharp focus. It is the the relative ease of the uninterrupted daily that muddies the water, allowing discontent to filter in. It can make it hard to see love, to show love, to feel loving. How often we become farsighted as marriage ages, seeing clearly that which is beyond our reach, while what is right there before us blurs and fades from our sight…"

please visit Suscipio for the rest of the story

Covenant

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I will give between me and you…'" 

oil spot
Rainbows aren't always overhead, in sun-splashed parting clouds. 

Very often they are right there underfoot, in the midst of our messy spills,

the sticky spots.

You just have to look for them.

Sharing a moment of grace with the ladies at Suscipio this week:
"They were there, these moments of grace. They may have been fleeting and the noise and demands of life may have tried to drown them out, but they were there."