3 Ways Into Sunday’s Stories for Children: Watch and Wait

The Second Sunday in Lent

This week’s Lenten practice is called Watch. We will plant and nurture a paperwhite bulb and watch the changes over the coming weeks. These changes will happen faster than with most plants, but they aren’t instantaneous like they were with our pepper experiment. Sometimes we need to train ourselves to be patient, or to slow down. 

Each week in Children’s Time, we will be reading pages from Lara Alary’s lovely book for children about Lent, Make Room. You can order your own hard copy, or the eBook, which you can view on an e-reader or computer in a cloud reader app.

1. Sing and Dance

God Loves Me and I Love You

The changes in plants and other growing things happen inside them before we see the outer changes. God’s love in people is the same. When we are nurtured with love, it changes us inside, which then allows us to show it on the outside.

One way to show love on the outside is by simply telling someone that you love them, which you can do by singing and moving along with our friend Kathy Bozzuti-Jones:

2. Play and Pray

Our practice this week is Watch. Play a Super-Slow-Motion Mirror game with a friend or family member. You could do this in person or online:

Face the other person. One person is the leader and the other the follower. Pretend to be looking in a mirror. The leader very s-l-o-w-l-y moves their face or body parts while the follower watches closely and matches those movements. Switch roles. Can it take 10 seconds to complete one movement? How about 20, or 30? Try slowly raising one hand up as high as you can, changing a frown into a smile, or turning your head as far as you can in one direction and back to center again. How slow can you go?

One week has passed since you received your Lenten Prayer calendar. Have you prayed each day? It’s ok! God is always present. Take today, this moment, to watch for God’s presence in your joys and in your worries.

If there is someone in particular you are praying for, you could hold that person in your heart and mind’s eye while you pray this ancient Evening Prayer, which begins, “Watch, O Lord…”

3. Create

This week’s spiritual practice is watch.

Watch the video below to see how we’ll plant our paperwhite narcissus bulbs in Children’s Time, and here are instructions and some prompts to consider while you nurture and watch.

Be patient and joyous while you watch. Imagine what’s going on inside the bulb as it responds to your care and “wakes up” and seeks the light.