Last year I wrote about a meditation garden I made for my family to explore during the season of Lent. You can see photos of it and read about the supplies I collected to use in the garden in this post on
observing Lent at Home. This year, I revisited the idea and made a few changes.
Last Lent, I set the meditation garden, prayer ideas, and supplies on a table in a quiet corner of our dining room for family members to use during the day. Just before Lent began this year, my husband Mark asked if there were any candles we could light at dinner time as we do in Advent. I thought again of our meditation garden and decided to adapt it for meal time use. I found a smaller bowl to hold the sand, and bought some purple tea light candles to use in the garden. I kept a small bowl of stones on the kitchen table with the garden but left the other supplies in the dinning room to be brought out as needed.
Each night at dinner we light a candle and pray together. I have been adapting the prayer ideas I created for individual use for our little group, and bringing in supplies as needed. Most often, we each choose a rock and pray for a special concern or a thanksgiving before adding it to the garden. Other times I have left a little verse of scripture in the garden and we have prayed with it before adding our rocks.
There are so many ways to pray with this garden before meals! I love using it this way. It has really set Lent apart for our family and it is helping us to pray together in new ways.
Two wonderful blogging friends of mine, Sheila at Explore and Express, and Storyteller at Wonderful in an Easter kind of Way are collecting links with ideas for preparing for Easter. I am listing this post in their Lenten Link-Up Party. Click here to see all of the great posts they have collected!
Last year I wrote about a meditation garden I made for my family to explore during the season of Lent. You can see photos of it and read about the supplies I collected to use in the garden in this post on observing Lent at Home. This year, I revisited the idea and made a few changes.
Each night at dinner we light a candle and pray together. I have been adapting the prayer ideas I created for individual use for our little group, and bringing in supplies as needed. Most often, we each choose a rock and pray for a special concern or a thanksgiving before adding it to the garden. Other times I have left a little verse of scripture in the garden and we have prayed with it before adding our rocks.
I have a potentially irreverent question - when is the sand combed, and with what? I notice that the top picture looks like a finger has traced a spiral into the sand but that it's in a different pattern in the bottom pic.
ReplyDeleteI like your question!!! :) We all play around with the sand from time to time - usually just before we sit down to dinner. You are right- the sand in the top picture was done with a finger and the bottom with a little piece of wood fencing that I bought from a craft store for the purpose. You can see it in the original post on the garden here:
Deletehttp://fromthesheepfold.blogspot.com/2011/03/lent-at-home.html
Such a special tradition! I especially like the idea of using it at meal times.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sheila! I'm loving having it at meal time too! I has really made the season stand apart for our family! Thanks for the Lenten Link up! :)
DeleteI love the idea of using the sand meditation garden for Lent. Following the more traditional imagery, I have tried just placing out an empty pot of soil. Unfortunately neither of these work with cats around! I've had dirt and sand everywhere. Perhaps when the kittens are older and calmer we'll try again. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHi Dionne- I never imagined that problem but it makes a lot of sense! I would think sand or dirt everywhere would be the best case scenario!! ;) Is there some kind of lid you could fashion? Maybe use a 9x13 pan with a lid that you remove when you pray with it?
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting! I popped over to you blog and love the feel of it! I'll be following in Reader. Thanks again for stopping by!
Leslie, this is a super idea. I can see myself making a prayer garden in a little corner for me in order to get a little more spirituality into my days. Thanks for this post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Tonya! I'm glad you like the prayer garden! I enjoy your blog so much! Keep reading and writing! :)
DeleteWhat a lovely addition to Lent ideas for kids and grandchildren. Thank you so much for sharing it. I'm off to reshare on Facebook :) Is it ok if I also share it on Pinterest? Just let me know either way. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kaye, Thanks for sharing the prayer garden idea! I'm happy to have you share on pinterest! Go right ahead! I haven't been to your site before but am enjoying exploring it! What an important subject! Thank you for stopping by the blog.
DeleteWhat a beautiful activity for both children and adults! So simple and inviting. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and pinned it to my Lent Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/lent/
ReplyDeleteHi Deb! So nice to hear from you! Thanks so much for sharing the prayer garden. I really appreciate it! I'm enjoying hearing from you through FB - I'm sure it is a lot to keep up with, but it is wonderful to hear from you more frequently! I hope you are doing well. Thanks again!
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