Lenten Cross

We have started trying to do a short family devotion time each evening. Somehow it is easier to be consistent for our son's sake; we have never managed to follow through regularly on our plans for regular couples devotions.

For Lent, our evening devotions are centered around our Lenten Cross. I made the cross and symbols last year, using the Domestic Church post. I made the cross from a piece of foam board and bought a package of craft foam at the Dollar Store. Then I drew the symbols on the foam, cut them out, and added hook and loop tape with hot glue. I put corresponding tape on the cross. Our son was less than a year old then, so we didn't get too far with the cross.

This year, we have kept up with the cross. It is helpful that Sundays aren't included in the cross, so we have used Sundays to "catch up" as necessary. With a toddler, it has been hard to do the nightly Bible readings for each symbol. Some of them are too lengthy and the Bible itself is too attractive a distraction for my little one's curiosity.

So, my craft this year is making books for each week. I bought these darling blank books through Bare Books. I looked at the stories for each week to find a theme. The second week of Lent, for example, is Forgiveness as the week includes the Israelites wandering in the desert and Jonah. I wrote a brief description of forgiveness, how are called to live, and a challenge for the week.  We read these, but I'm hoping our family will grow into these ideas in the coming years.

 The main part of the book is a summary of the bible story for each symbol, a simple illustration, and a piece of hook and loop to hold the symbol until we are ready to add it to the cross.

 The last page is a simple prayer incorporating the week's theme to close our devotional time.



My son loves re-arranging the symbols on the cross each night, taking the new symbol out of the book, and saying "Amen!" repeatedly when we are done. I've had to add a lot more glue and repair Noah's Ark since toddlers don't do much of anything gently!