These Lenten Days...

"From dust we've come and dust we are and dust we shall return...

Be still my soul, Lord make me whole...

Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest."

-Dust We Are And Shall Return by The Brilliance

To observe these Lenten days, we are...

- keeping the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ on the forefront of our minds: reading through the gospel of Mark and reading stories of Jesus in various Children's Bibles as well.

- setting out objects to remind us of the season: candles, an iron sculpture of Jesus carrying His cross (by a local artist)and our Easter garden.

- using our Lenten/Easter garden to remind us of the story of cross and the grave. On Good Friday, we will close the tomb with a rock and light candles on the path to the tomb. On Easter Sunday I will fill the garden with flowers.

- forcing forsythia to bloom in a vase on the kitchen table; another reminder of spring and the promise of new growth.

- listening to more mellow music, for the most part; "Brother" by the Brilliance (especially From Dust You Are and Shall Return); "Songs for Lent" by New York Hymns; "Resurrection Letters" by Andrew Peterson.

- during Morning Basket time with the kids, we are singing the hymn "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" and memorizing Psalm 23.

- As a way to focus on Jesus' sacrifice for us, we have set out a small goblet on the table. Each time a family member makes a sacrifice for someone else, they may put a bean into the goblet. The kids don't know this yet, but on Easter morning their dried beans will turn into jelly beans.

- attempting to slow down, observe and enjoy the journey from winter to spring, darkness to light, death to life