Last year was the first time I had ever practiced Lent. Prior to that, I had heard of people giving things up for Lent, and I had always decided that it just wasn’t really for me. It didn’t seem necessary and I didn’t really understand it. But I was reading an article the other day in MOPS Magazine where Linsey Wildey writes, “Advent is to Christmas as Lent is to Easter” and that resonated with me. Let me explain.
What is Lent?
Lent is a meaningful season of 40 days (plus 6 Sabbath days) leading up to Easter. It is a period of time that mirrors Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and helps us to prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection by intentionally entering into the suffering of Jesus, that we might “know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10-11).
Why practice Lent?
All too often we become desensitized to our sin and the idols we cling to. Lent provides an opportunity for us to examine the ways we fall short, and our deep need for Jesus–his perfect life, death and Resurrection. Our need for Him to take our sin upon Himself, so that we might have life to the full. We don’t participate in Lent out of necessity to win God’s approval or to earn His love. Instead, we enter this time of remembrance that we might be reawakened to the beauty of the cross.
How to practice Lent as a family (and why it’s good for them)
Let me start with why it’s good for your family to practice Lent before we talk about how.
I think it can be helpful for us to participate in things like Advent and Lent because these intentional periods of time can be awesome opportunities to teach our little ones, to make memories and to create meaningful experiences that cement God’s truths into the hearts of our children (by the power of the Holy Spirit).
In her book How to Celebrate Everything Jenny Rosenstrach writes, “Babies crave routines. Families crave rituals. If routines are about keeping our family from going off the rails, rituals are about infusing those routine days with meaning.”
I think the Lord gives us intentional celebrations and seasons to infuse our routine days with both meaning and worship. To remind us of who He is and what He has done (since we so often forget). I shared a story about my eldest son Aiden in a post about why our family uses an Advent wreath and I think it is worth repeating here–“My son just turned 3. He doesn’t quite understand the concept of the days of the week yet. But every Saturday is our family’s Sabbath, and at each meal of Sabbath we try to light our Sabbath candles. Two simple candles that we call “cease” and “celebrate”. And as we light them, we explain how on Sabbath we cease from what is necessary and celebrate that which gives life (The Rest of God). Sabbath is a day for us where we play, eat good food, and try to intentionally rest and live it up in the spirit of the gift that it is. Aiden doesn’t yet know the days of the week, but he will regularly ask if it’s Sabbath yet and if we can light the candles. He knows that on Sabbath he can eat a special breakfast and it will be a restful day for our family. And I think that the lighting of the candles and discussing of their purpose, has helped orient his heart toward Sabbath and (I hope) ultimately toward the Lord.”
It’s my prayer that participating in things like Advent and Lent helps to orient our children’s heart to the significance of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. They might not understand the full gravity just yet, but each day as we remove a chain from our Lent paper chain link and as we read a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible and we discuss our need for a Savior, it’s my prayer that these Gospel truths begin to sink in. Easter isn’t about the candy or the gifts (although those are nice!), it’s about God coming down to meet us in our brokenness–the best gift we could ever receive.
Now that we’ve talked about why Lent can be helpful for your family, let’s look at a few ideas for how to practice it:
There are many ways that you can choose to participate in Lent. I will offer a few that my family and I are trying in hopes that they spark ideas for you. I’ll also say that anytime we’re seeking to teach our kids, engaging them on their level through play and story often work best (in my experience).
That said, here are a few ideas for how to live into Lent this year:
Use The Jesus Storybook Bible Lent Guide and paper chain – find it FOR FREE here. We LOVE The Jesus Storybook Bible, and for Lent, they have created a paper chain counting down the days, with a particular story to read from the book on every chain. It’s simple, it’s engaging and it’s free! We’re reading our stories at breakfast time and it’s already been encouraging to all of us.
Try a Lenten Candles Family Activity– I was introduced to this concept last year and my family enjoyed it. Similar to an Advent wreath, it is a small display of candles you can arrange on your table that serves as a visual reminder of Jesus headed to the Cross. On the first Sunday of Lent, all 7 candles are lit, and each Sunday following, you light one less candle until you reach Good Friday where all the candles are extinguished. By Good Friday it seems as though darkness has won and totally extinguished the Light. But on Easter Sunday, you light all the candles again, celebrating the Resurrection and the true Light of the World defeating death. You can learn more about how to try this activity here.
Adopt a Lenten theme to live into and use a Lent Jar to celebrate seeing your family living into a spiritual practice. I heard of this idea from MOPS Magazine in the article on Lent written by Linsey Wildey. She suggests picking one theme for yourself and one theme for your kids to practice and celebrate.
For example:
“Human Temptation: Saying yes to everything. Bible story: Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:6). Lenten Theme: Accept Limits. Spiritual Practice: Say, ‘I can’t’.
In this example, I might feel that I am often tempted to say yes to all the things and so this Lent, I commit to accept my limits. Anytime I notice myself living into the spiritual practice of saying “I can’t”, I would put a rock or jelly bean into our Lent Jar to celebrate small steps of obedience.
One more example I liked for kids was this: “Human temptation: Hold onto things. Bible Story: The Greedy Farmer Luke 12:16-21. Lenten Theme: Sharing. Spiritual Practice: Say, ‘I want you to have this.'”
I hope to use this theme with my boys and whenever we notice one of them sharing, we’ll put a jelly bean or rock in our Lent jar. Feels like a fun and meaningful way to help the boys lean into understanding our need for Jesus when we fall short and celebrating the ways He helps us to obey.
For more Lenten theme ideas, check out Linsey Wildey’s instagram where she’ll be posting them.
Well friends, I hope these ideas bless you as you consider living into Lent this year with your family.
May your heart be reawakened to the beauty of Jesus this season as we remind ourselves and our families of our deep need for Him.
