Creating Lent & Easter Memories Part IV

This post is a sequel to the last three week’s newsletter articles. If you missed these articles and would like to learn more about creative ways to share Lenten and Easter memories with your family, click here, here or here. 

Here are this week’s ideas from Dr. David W. Sharrard (paraphrased):

These suggestions are meant to use the season of Lent to teach children and young people the necessary skills for self-management and cooperation with others. We are focusing on relationships with loved ones, neighbors and God. We have brought together a few long-held religious practices, offering specific skills that we call the ABC’s of Spirituality. First we need to pay ATTENTION (A) to ourselves and others. Then we need to find a BALANCE (B) between our inner selves and others’ claims on our lives. A fellow colleague once said, “Jesus invites us to look at the world around us, to look within ourselves, for faithful responses to life’s challenges.” Lastly, we seek CONNECTIONS (C) utilizing two skills: COMPASSION and CARING.

This is done through regular family meetings. Suggested time frame is 10-15 minutes, though older children might be able to expand to longer intervals.

CONNECTING is our understanding that our relationships with others are inseparable from our relationship with God. Loving God and loving our neighbors are two aspects of the same calling.

Here is a diagram to help understand how our moods are influenced by our thoughts and how our thoughts develop based on interpretations of the world around us.

Week 5—Light a candle as a symbol of your time together if you have already begun this practice for your meeting time.  Read John 13: 34-35 then ask each person to share one positive event from the week that brought them joy.

Explain how thoughts set the tone for our moods. (See the above diagram.) Try this experiment:
                Invite each person to recall being upset this week and to spend a moment remembering the      
               experience. Ask these questions: 
                                ​How did your body feel at that time? Help them find the appropriate adjectives.
                                What were you thinking at the time? Help them name their thoughts.
                                How were you feeling? Help them name or describe their emotions.

                                Now ask them to stop that thought and to think of something positive about who, or whatever
                                upset them. Then ask the same questions about the body, thinking and feelings.

Explain that positive, nurturing relationships energize each other and are satisfying and beneficial to everyone. Negative, troubling relationships, on the other hand, are tiring, disturbing and upsetting.

Parents, ask each person to think about what God might like about each member of the family. Allow time for silent thought and then invite each member to share their ideas.

Finally, ask each person to think about one positive thing they like about each family member. Allow time for silent thought once again. Invite everyone to share their positive thoughts with one another. Then, inquire about everyone's current mood.

Close out your time together by joining hands and reciting the Lord’s Prayer together.

May these ideas become dedicated practices for your family for a lifetime.     
Blessings,
Tracy