“When we celebrate, we remind ourselves what it is important in life.”

Here’s our favorite Family Lent Devotional! Click here for Amon’s Adventure! It’s so good!

Memory-Making Mom

Why Celebrate Lent?

“Lent is a season of waiting…While Advent waits eagerly for the appearance of the Savior, Lent waits, with heavy responsibility, for his death.” (Noel Piper, Treasuring God in Our Traditions.)

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I have a question for you. In the past month, how many minutes have you spent pondering Christ’s death and resurrection?

A second question. How many minutes have you spent discussing Christ’s death and resurrection with your family?

I will go first here. I would honestly say that specifically thinking about Christ’s death and resurrection, both answers are around ten minutes. Maybe more, but not much more.

The point is not to make us all feel guilty about what we have or have not done. Far from it! I am making a point. The answer to “Why Lent?” is this: It is a beautiful opportunity to quiet our hearts for our Savior. 

Don’t worry about what you haven’t done; this can be the year that we celebrate Lent and take time to focus on Christ in a way that we do not regularly do!

If you’re looking for tips about how to do Lent as a family, you are in luck! Are you ready?

How To Honor Lent as a Family

• First step is get out that calendar. Not figuratively but literally — write these down. If it’s 2019 when you are reading this, handwrite or add event to your Google calendar for these dates:
  • Tuesday, March 5: Shrove Tuesday:
    • Activity:  This marks the last day of Epiphany in the liturgical church calendar, and the day before Ash Wednesday. Many churches traditionally celebrate with a pancake supper. What a great idea for a family activity to usher in Lent!  Here is an article for more information on Shrove Tuesday. 
  • Wednesday, March 6: Ash Wednesday:
    • Activity: Many churches offer services for Ash Wednesday services. At the very least, I would suggest discussing with your kids that today begins the season where we begin to remember Jesus dying on the cross for us.
    • Activity: Listen to the hymn Jesus Paid it All (new version or old version)
    • Parents: Read this post on Preparing for Ash Wednesday.
  • Sunday, April 7: Begin younger children Easter activities, see below.
  • Tuesday, April 9: Begin opening Resurrection Eggs.
  • Sunday, April 14: Palm Sunday (Consider starting John Piper’s devotional readings for Holy Week).
  • Thursday, April 18: Maundy Thursday – Activity: For dinner celebrate A Simple Family Seder.
  • Friday, April 19: Good Friday (The Celebration Project offers an wonderful list of ways to celebrate Good Friday as a family.)
  • Sunday, April 21: Easter Sunday

•  Second step is to choose a few rituals throughout the Lent season.

Adult & Teen suggestions for Lent:

• Give up something (social media, sweets, TV) for 40 days and use that time to read and pray. I suggest doing the She Reads Truth Lent Bible study with devotionals or a Lutheran Lent Reading Plan such as this one.

Older children suggestions for Lent:

• For 40 days of Lent, you can read through The Jesus Storybook Bible using this plan (it is for 2018 but I imagine would be adaptable.) We love the historical fictional stories Amon’s Adventure for a bedtime reading during Lent. (We use these for Advent, too, but be advised they are intense at parts.) Another less-Scriptural idea is to do a 40-day purge, every day decluttering a bag of stuff in your home.

Young Children suggestions for Lent:

For younger children I suggest celebrating Easter in earnest not for 40 days, but for the two weeks leading up to Easter. It’s just long enough that they remain focused and excited.

• So two weeks prior, before you jump in to any activities, sit down with you kids and say in a few sentences why we celebrate Easter. I would say something like, “This is a very special time. We are going to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us. It was very awful and sad, but he did this for us, because He wanted us to be in heaven. And guess what? He didn’t stay dead! He rose from the dead!”
• Read faith-based Easter picture books (I list many suggestions in my book, Memory-Making Mom).
• Use this Bible reading plan and have the kids act out story with Legos small toys each day.
• Make a resurrection garden.
• Go to a Good Friday service. This is so important! I still remember them vividly from my childhood.
• Make Resurrection Rolls on Easter Sunday.

But Relax! It’s Not About Doing This Well

The God of the Universe died for us, not because we were so wonderful at remembering Him, but actually, because we were not. He is very good! It is His faithfulness to us that matters.

So I would say pick a few of these and be consistent, as much as you can. And then be thankful that He died especially for memory-making moms with big plans but not always terrific follow-through.

If you enjoy meaningful celebrating with your family, you will love my brand-new book, Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home. 

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