What if this Lenten season, we stopped to be present with our kids and with Jesus versus giving up a meager piece of chocolate? (No shame here; I gave up chocolate for years.) Even King David knew that God wasn’t interested in what he gave up so much as what he was becoming. How do we get our kids on board with approaching Easter through the season of Lent with this attitude? This may mean giving up time-stealers—an activity, object, or event that robs you and your family time away from God.
I’m not offering specific things to do or even a list of actions (parents don’t need more things to do) but ideas for families to reflect on this final week of Jesus’s life on Earth and thinking more about who we are becoming.
Conversation starters around the table, in the car, and on the way are easy ways to engage kids and get them thinking. As you look around your world, invite your kids to see or hear what God might see or hear. Ask your child how Jesus would respond if He walked your neighborhood.
Create a safe place where kids can share what is troubling them. Give them space to ask for help or strength to quit sinning. Offer compassion and grace in your response and prayers. Plead with the Holy Spirit to convict your family of sin and to live and work through you.
Choose a Bible passage or story about the events leading up to Jesus’s resurrection, starting with Palm Sunday. Find a time that works for your family, maybe breakfast or bedtime. As you read, stop to hear the clanking of coins as Jesus cleared the temple, smell the aroma of perfume poured over Jesus, or imagine the King of kings riding on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem. Ask questions: What do we learn about Jesus? What do we learn about those He interacted with in the passage? Invite questions from your kids, offer some of your own, and be okay with not always having the answer.
As you read the Bible, identify a verse that speaks to your family and print it on a mirror or the fridge. Let it soak into your very marrow. Chew on it for a week. What if your family practiced the command, believed the promise, or wrestled with a verse? Turn off the buzzing and beeping of screens for one day or one hour and allow scriptures to fill your minds. Take note of any differences.
Find moments within the rhythms of your family to spend these weeks leading up to Easter together with Him. This sojourn with Jesus may spark celebration and wonder at Jesus’s resurrection.
Sally Cressman’s debut picture book, “The Dance of Easter,” will be released on March 5. She writes about faith, family, and home on her website, www.sallycressman.com.
