What to do with Easter?

“Maybe we could not allow anyone in the family to shower, wash dishes, or clean ANYTHING from Good Friday to Easter Sunday to illustrate that without Christ’s forgiveness we are tainted by sin!”

My kind and gracious husband simply replied, “No.” That was his response to my many other *more extreme* suggestions like keeping and slaughtering a lamb for our family’s Easter tradition.

Just being frank, Easter is a difficult holiday for me. Traditions, crafts, activities and fun exist for the whole Christmas season and many are even Christ-centered. In a way, it is almost easy to celebrate the joyous coming of Christ! But Easter is different. Although just as great a cause for joy and rich with theological and practical significance to the Christian, Easter is challenging to celebrate. Its somber: Death, suffering, sin. What are we suppose to do with these things? It seems that the Protestant Evangelical tradition is lacking in resources and traditions that promote reflection, understanding and appropriate celebration of this event. Granted, we celebrate the truths of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection daily as believers, but doesn’t such a significant event warrant a special time of celebration like Christmas? Something more than just a “Good” Friday that most of us still work on followed by a Sunday feast with new dress clothes?

I’ve been struggling with what to do about Easter for some time. My first attempt and tradition is a personal one that my husband is not able to take advantage of with me because he has to work. It is keeping a “Sabbath” of rest on Good Friday. You can read about my first attempt here.

This lack of Christ-centered Easter traditions and my years of struggling to decide how to celebrate this as a family is why I am so eager to use our new Easter Banner in our home and to share it with you all here through Heart FELT Truths. I am excited to use this tool to draw our focus to the cross during Holy Week and teach my children about the work of Christ! I will have more information and photos up in about two weeks!

I hope you’ll respond to this post with your own thoughts and maybe some Christ-Centered Easter Traditions of your own.

A Floundering Prayer Life Fixed by a Children’s Picture Book

This is the first year since I can remember that I have not written New Year’s Resolutions.  Usually I take the New Year to evaluate my spiritual life and establish some goals and plans for my devotions and prayer life. My husband initiated some changes to our shared prayer life at the start of the New Year for which I am very grateful. However, my own prayer life has been floundering and I did not evaluate it and come up with a course of action to address it. That all changed today!

I have been facing, for some extended period of time the common problems associated with prayer that you may be facing as well: lack of time, lack of focus, not knowing what to pray for (because there is so much to pray about!), and lack of enthusiasm. In the last month or two I have addressed the first obstacle: lack of time.  Today, I was reminded, very kindly by the Lord of how to address my lack of focus and my difficulty in determining the content of my prayers.

A kind couple at church gave me a children’s book today for my kids: The Barber who Wanted to Pray by R.C. Sproul. In the story, a father shares a tale with his children to teach them how to pray. He tells an account (based on a true story) of how Martin Luther wrote a booklet for a barber who wanted to learn to pray. The father shares with his children the advice that Dr. Luther gave the Barber… pray through the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles’ Creed.

How quickly we forget. Back in High School, Dr. Don Whitney introduced to me the concept of praying through Scripture, particularly the Psalms. It seems that every time I have had difficulty with my prayer life, I return back to this simple principle and it resolves all my problems. Praying through the Scripture keeps me focused and guides my prayers. Naturally, as I encounter God through His Word it fuels my passion and enthusiasm.  Why did I not think of this months ago? I have been through this cycle countless times in the last 10 years.  I am so thankful for having the time to preview this children’s book while my kids were busy this afternoon.  I can say with great excitement that I will be back in the Word, praying through it tomorrow!

For those of you who have made resolutions to pray more but aren’t quite sure how, I would highly recommend learning more about this principle through Dr. Whitney’s book. For example’s sake, praying through Scripture would look something like this….

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd: “God, I thank you for shepherding me. How gracious you are to care for me as your own sheep. You provide for all I need and protect me with such love and care!”
I shall not want: “Help me to trust your provision Lord! I know that as you watch over me, you have my best interest at heart and will provide everything I need. Please do not let me doubt this truth. Lord you know how greatly we need ****. I know that you are able to provide this for me and I trust that you will do so in your way and your time. “

and so on…

For those of you who like check lists, this will not allow you the satisfaction of saying “Okay, I prayed for x, y, z on Monday, d, e, f on Tuesday and …..” However, this will certain allow you to pray intimately with the Lord about what you can trust that He is leading you to day by day.

 

O Give Thanks to the Lord, a Thanksgiving Tradition

In our home we have a special Thanksgiving tradition that we do each Thanksgiving Day or at some point after the hustle and bustle of family meals is over. Beside the minimal work I did on it the first year, it requires no advanced planning or effort. Despite the simplicity, it is incredibly meaningful to my husband and me.  It is something very special that we share together, and one day we will share it with our children too. It is what we call our “Blessing Box.”

I have a little blue photo box with the words “Thanks Be to God” running across the top in pretty stickers. I think I bought it all at the craft store for about $6.00 and put it together in 30 minutes. Inside are pieces of printer paper cut in to fourths. Each year my husband and I take out a piece of paper and write down what we are thankful for from the past year. We don’t share them with each other at the time, but hide them away in the box until the following Thanksgiving. Each year we take out all the old cards from past years and read them out loud together. We always look forward to hearing what each other had to say from the Thanksgiving before. Sometimes we shed some tears as we remember the trials God had brought us through or the unexpected blessings He sent our way.

I can’t wait to open the box up again next week. It is our simple way of remembering the good things that the Lord has done and giving thanks to Him.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
(Psalm 105:1-6 ESV, emphasis added)

 

Just like the rest of ‘em!

One thing that is special about being a mother is that I am absolutely convinced that there is no child in the world as wonderful or special as my own. Carson’s eyes must be the most beautiful eyes of any child anywhere. Justus’ passion for construction trucks and hot dogs must rival any boy’s or man’s. And of course, that flowered dress wouldn’t look near as pretty on any other little girl but Joy. When my children smile, it lights up my whole world.

What I find fascinating about this is that I know other parents feel the same way about their children. And it doesn’t bother me. In fact, I want them to think that way about their children. While it can be taken to unhealthy extremes, I think this is a good gift to give our children. Many benefits come from having a high view of the individuality, beauty and talent of our children. One of the most important in my mind is a unique foretaste of the great blessedness of being a child of God. When parents lovingly express the specialness and uniqueness of a child, I believe it can lay a foundation for being able to believe that God would uniquely and specially love us as His own child. But I digress…

The real reason I bring this up is to draw parents to an offensive little phrase I noticed in Scripture. It is this: “Like the rest of mankind.” I think I would be either appalled or offended if anyone walked up to me and said, “Your daughter is just like the rest of ‘em. Smiles like them. Looks like them.” So is your son or daughter just like the rest of ‘em? Let’s walk through Ephesians 2 and see what is so important about this annoying little phrase.

In chapter 2 of Ephsians, Paul graciously reminds us that our salvation is so great because of who we once were. He tells us we were dead, disobedient, separated from Christ, and children of wrath! The point of the passage is to remind us that God is rich in mercy because He still chose to save us even though we were just like the rest of the world walking in all the lusts of our flesh. There was absolutely nothing different about us. But something struck me as I was studying this text. As much as I hate to admit it, Paul gave only two categories for mankind: children of wrath and children of God. I can admit that I used to be a “child of wrath” but I preferred there be a third category: “Children of Whitney Standlea.” But there isn’t. I had to place my children in the context of one or the other. At this time my children are “children of wrath like the rest of mankind.” Being honest, once I thought about it I didn’t really like that idea.

This is very sobering. My little sons that struggle to obey my voice are in the same general category as the rapist on the news last night. My daughter in all her beauty is really no different than the promiscuous teen that I would never allow to babysit her. These little children that I care for, tend to, get frustrated with, adore, and love everyday are children of wrath at their very nature. They are separated from Christ, pursuing anything their hearts and minds desire.

Of what help is this unpleasant truth? If we can move past the splendid uniqueness of the gift God has given us, what good does it do us as parents to recognize that our children are really just like the rest of ‘em? I think this unpleasant realization is of eternal significance. It is perhaps the most propelling part of the particular love a parent has for her own child. The more we can understand and grasp at this truth, the more eager I believe we will be to share the great love of God with our children. As we see that their lives, their gifts and talents, their eternities (that we value so much) are of little worth unless surrendered to the Savior, we can refocus on the most important calling we have as parents: to constantly call on our heavenly Father and avail ourselves of every means God has given us to make our children become His children. In reality, if they only remain our children, they merely remain “children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

So let us strive with all diligence to bring them before our Father in prayer and turn their hearts to the love of the Savior. Let us remember that their eyes are always watching and their ears always listening. May our tongues speak constantly of His love and our hearts overflow with tenderness and patience toward them just as God has demonstrated great kindness and patience with us. May we be eager to seize the moment by moment opportunities we have to live and speak the Gospel to our children with as great an eagerness as we would with any other lost soul we have the opportunity to encounter. And as our hearts become impatient and hardened toward our children, which they do, let us run back to the great manner of love that God has bestowed on us-that we the former children of wrath should now be called the children of God!

Book Review: “God Gave us So Much” by Lisa Tawn Bergren

God Gave us So Much is a collection of three books called God Gave us the World, God Gave us Love, and God Gave us Heaven. It is well-bound and include darling illustrations of a family of polar bears. The colors are cheerful and pleasing to kids and adults. The story line for each book is mostly dialog between Little Cub and and one of her older family members. The publisher appropriately recommends this book for ages 4-8. While my three-year-old loved to read through the books, the dialog was mostly over his head.

There’s much to like with the illustrations and the easy everyday language and examples that carry the stories. Parents will find the stories useful for generating spiritual conversation in everyday areas of life once the books are closed. God Gave us Love was little lacking in a grounded Biblical view of God’s love. It offered great examples of how and why we should love others, but failed to point the child to the reality that God’s love is given to us even though we are in no way love-able. When Little Cub asks “Grandpa, could we ever do something to make God not love us?” Grandpa simply responds “Nope. He always hopes for the best in us. He sees a bit of himself in us. And that bit is love.” Later Jesus is pointed to as the ultimate expression of God’s love, but Grandpa certainly missed an opportunity to present the truth at the heart of the Gospel: Because of our sin, God’s wrath is upon us and we are separated from the greatest blessings of a loving God. It is only through Jesus that we can be changed from “children of wrath” to “children of God.”

Because of the parent-child dialog of the books, any spiritual truth that is presented in a way that parents would rather express different can easily be adapted to flow with the story.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Felt Nativity Calendar Photos, Patterns, Instructions

*****CHRISTMAS 2011 UPDATE: I have now posted an updated version of this calendar with better instructions, photos, ect. at a new blog:  Heart FELT Truths. I hope you’ll check it out!********

Here is our family’s advent calendar, derived largely from Noel Piper’s calendar that is no longer available. For more information on this calendar and how we used it on our home, please see my previous post. YOU CAN NOW ORDER A SIMILAR VERSION OF THIS CALENDAR FROM MY ETSY SHOP!

Below you will find three attachments. One is a very rudimentary pdf of felt patterns you can trace to make a nativity calendar. The second is instructions. The third is the actual story you read. Each day you add a new line to the story and place its corresponding piece onto the display. The goal is that by the end of the 25 days leading to Christmas your children will be able to tell much of the story with you on their own. If you chose to make one based off of these patterns, would you please drop me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post to let me know if it worked okay? I haven’t gotten any feedback yet from people using the patterns. I’d greatly appreciate your comments!

I hope you enjoy the photos of the nativity calendar I made below. Here are just a few notes about what I did….

• The star is made from a cheap ornament I bought at Hobby Lobby.
• The wise men’s gifts are a charm bracelet I bought at Hobby Lobby. I cut the bracelet and took the beads off that I wanted.
• The wise men’s gifts and the star are attached to the felt with pieces of 3M photo mounting strips.
• The felt is mounted to the wall with 3M photo mounting strips. I simply attached them to the back of the felt and onto the wall. We never had problems with it falling off.

You can see a photo of my friend’s nativity calendar. She made it without a pattern, simply by looking at mine. Notice that the stars and gifts are made of felt as well if you are looking for an alternative.

Felt Patterns

Advent Calendar Instructions

Advent Calendar Story

Here are some close-ups of the pieces:

All though these are fairly simple to make, if you are strapped for time I would consider making the pieces for hire. Please e-mail me (standlea@gmail.com) if you are interested.

Preparing for Christmas (Already)

Here is the post with the patterns for my family’s Advent Calendar. I spent so much time trying to find something similar to this to purchase, and finally had to make my own because nothing was available. I’m hoping this will help some of you out who are in a similar position. Below are a few points about the calendar you may want to read before going to the actual post with instructions:

1. The Advent Calendar is based on Noel Piper’s Noel Calendar.

Desiring God sold these calendars several years ago. They are mentioned in her book Treasuring God in our Traditions. They no longer sell them. The original calendar is a simple burlap wall hanging with figurines that velcro to the display. Felt was an easier material for me to locate, so my calendar is made of felt. I also heavily draw on Piper’s text for my calendar, but it is altered a bit to better suit the desires I had for my family. I credit her for the idea, and have confirmed permission with Desiring God to post my altered version.

2. The Advent Calendar is geared toward younger children.

This calendar is an excellent teaching tool for children ages birth through ?six? years of age. My children were 15 months and almost three as we went through the calendar this past December. Both were eager and fascinated each day for Daddy to arrive home so we could “do calendar” together. My almost-three-year-old was easily able to memorize large portions of the text. We would read a few words and then he would complete the sentences as we went along. My husband and I were both amazed at his capacity for memorizing so much in such a short period of time.

3. The goals of this calendar were to: Teach my children the story of Christ’s birth, and Help them to be excited about the true meaning of Christmas.

These goals were certainly accomplished in our home. The amount of conversations that were generated about the Christmas story were many and often. It is a tool that I would highly recommend to parents of younger children.