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You are here: Home / Archives for Spring

Spring

6 Colossally Meaningful Ways to Inspire Creation Care this Earth Day

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

The Earth is a masterpiece of God’s artistry. Invite your kids into practices of creation care to celebrate this on Earth Day!

creation care

Oh, lord, there are times when habitat destruction, pollution, and death can feel like almost too much to take in. So, let me offer you some hope this Earth Day. We are not powerless. Let’s inspire our kids to be a generation that takes creation care seriously and brings about change!

What are you doing with your kids this Earth Day to celebrate God’s beauty and bring healing to creation? Share with us in the comments below!

creation care

Using Our Power

Getting honest is important, even and especially when it’s uncomfortable to do so. We need to be real with ourselves about the state of things. It doesn’t help any of us if we avoid and deny.

Our holy texts tell us that “The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Yikes! We’ve been on this path for a long time.

But, we have the power to make change happen. We do not have to live as victims, overwhelmed. God is with us, faithful and gives us the strength to protect, restore and create the world in partnership with the relentless Divine Force of Life. So, in turn, we might flourish along with her.

creation care

Creation Care with Your Kids

Support struggling animals. There are several animal species currently on their way to extinction. We can come together and help! We are all a part of God’s creation and deserve the best opportunity to flourish. And our lives will be drastically affected. On the other hand, we have the power to make a difference in our future.

Pick up trash. Head to the coast or to the sidewalks. Bring a bag, gloves, and help clear the land of waste. This helps our animal and plant brothers and sisters. Additionally, it increases our health. Lastly, it will make your community more beautiful to live in.

Clear your garage and pantry of pesticides. The fact of the matter is that these harmful chemicals are decimating insect populations. Why does this matter? Pollinators are something we CANNOT live without. So, we need to stop killing them off inadvertently.

creation care

Plant native plants. Dig in the dirt with your kids! First, this increases beauty. Second, you will use less water to keep them alive. Third, the insects will benefit from having plants they are designed to ingest and pollinate.

Create your own Act of Green. Earth Day Network is launching a series of major campaigns to bring about global collaboration. Support the effort by creating your own Act of Green — and helping them reach 3 billion. These acts are anything from quitting smoking to using fabric bags.

Switch to non-plastic bags and wraps. Zero waste alternatives include beeswax-infused fabric wrap, stainless steel and glass containers, silicon storage bags, and so many more. Some of these are easy to make at home with your kiddos, too!

Don’t forget to tell us what you’re doing with your kiddos to celebrate Earth Day in the comments below!

creation care

Earth Day Prayer

I leave you with a prayer from St. Basil the Great. As you celebrate Earth Day this year may you feel deep connection to the Earth where we find our home and our peace. And may you find joy and purpose in caring for Her.

O God, enlarge within us the sense of
fellowship with all living things,
our brothers/sisters the animals to whom thou
gavest the earth as their home in common with us.

May we realize that they live not for
us alone but for themselves and for
thee, and that they love
the sweetness of life.

3 Ways of Celebrating the Sacred Feminine This Mother’s Day

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

May you, this Mother’s Day, find a rich and deep celebration of the Sacred Feminine that is held within all of our bodies and around us, even in the air we breathe.

mother's day

Sharing Our Gratitude on Mother’s Day

Perhaps you aren’t a mother. Perhaps you don’t have a fantastic relationship with your own mother. Or perhaps you are without your mother.

No matter where you find yourself fitting or not fitting, there may be even more to celebrate than you’ve imagined before.

On Mother’s Day, we celebrate our own mothers. We thank them for their love and for the ways they so faithfully offer themselves to us.

And we celebrate women with whom we may share no family ties at all. We offer our gratitude to the women who nurture us, advocate for us and believe in us. For, they too are our mothers.

Mother's Day

We give thanks for the women who stand, speak and fight. We celebrate those, both living and gone, who toil to make possible the world in which we get to make our life. For, they too are our mothers.

We offer our admiration and gratitude for the women who bring life to the world. The women with dirt under their nails from working in the fields and in their gardens, the women who birth ideas in their writing, those who sit with the hurting and care for the dying. For, they too are our mothers.

Also, on Mother’s Day, we celebrate God our Mother. God who loves and offers faithfully, who nurtures, advocates for and believes in us, who stands, speaks, fights, births for life to prevail.

mother's day

Celebrating God As Our Heavenly Mother

God is far beyond anything we can hope for or imagine. We use our language to hint at what we can’t quite fathom. So, how is the Divine like the mother for whom we all long?

God is strength, safety, tenderness, provision, compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love, guidance, comfort, creative power, presence, intimacy, joy, peace, open acceptance, wisdom…

And we, being made in God’s image, both men and women, share these qualities with Her.

So, I hope that you will notice the fingerprints of God, the imago dei, in the women you hold dear and celebrate this Mother’s Day. And I hope you will notice Her in you, also.

As a way of reflecting and connecting with God in this way, we’ve put together a list of just a few scriptures and ways of engaging them. We’d also love to hear how you’ll be celebrating the Sacred Feminine this year in the comments below.

As you enter into prayer around Mother’s Day, may you find joy and appreciation for the feminine within us all.

mother's day 102

Celebrating God as Mother through Scripture

Mother Eagle – Deuteronomy 32:11-12

God guarded Jacob as an eagle stirs up its nest,
    and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
    and bears them aloft on its pinions.

Birthing Mother – Isaiah 42:14

For a long time I have held my peace,
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
    I will gasp and pant.

Comforting Mother – Isaiah 66:13

As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Mother Hen – Luke 13:34

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

mother's day 106

Ways of Reflecting Upon the Scriptures

Paint or draw them. First, read the scripture repeatedly aloud or silently. Wait for the words and images that stand out to you. Perhaps colors will come to mind. Pay attention and then bring onto paper what you see.

Practice lectio divina with them. Read the scripture three times. First, read the scripture slowly. Second, read the scripture and reflect on what God is giving to you, a word or image perhaps. Third, read it and respond to God in heart and/or verbally. Fourth, rest and let go of your thoughts and listen deeply.

Use them for breath prayer. Choose, as you read, a word or phrase that you will speak in rhythm with your breath. For example, from Isaiah 66:13, “I will comfort you.” On the inhale perhaps recite silently “I will” and on the exhale “comfort you.” It may be helpful to set a timer. Then, you can be present in your practice not concerned about time.

mother's day 105

Blessings in Your Celebration

We hope these scriptures offer you a pathway on the journey of connecting to God, to women who do and have mothered you and to the Sacred Feminine within you this Mother’s Day. And don’t forget to share the ways you’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day this year in the comments below! 

Further Resources for Mother’s Day Reflection

  • Swallow’s Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms
  • God Our Mother, a poem by Allison Woodward.
  • “God Our Mother,” an episode on The Liturgists podcast.

5 Spectacular Spring Activities with Kids to Welcome the New Season

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

We’re dreaming of spring activities with kids over here as the winter melts away (at least for us up here in the Northern Hemisphere).

spring activities with kids 5

Seasons shifting holds treasures for us. The turn from one to another grounds us and marks our lives. So much awaits, especially when spring arrives. Such new life and promise. But seldom do we take much time to welcome it all. So, we’ve put together a list of five ways to usher in spring with kids.

Share with us how you’ll be celebrating the shift in season in the comments below.

Outdoor Spring Activities with Kids

As the winter chill lifts, spring activities with kids that involve getting outside are more possible. Hooray! Kick your heels up and celebrate by seeking out some sunshine.

Spring activities with kids 1

Spend more unstructured time outside. Winter is lovely and a welcome reprieve from the year’s pace. Its quiet beauty slows our bodies and routines. With fewer hours of light and fewer days conducive to activity, we insulate and spend more time in our dens. Then, spring invites us to emerge.

With the weather warming up, look beyond your walls and search for what God is up to. God’s Spirit is busy animating each leaf’s unfurling and each creature’s awakening. What might God be inviting you and your children to awaken to this spring?

Take the long way home. Or go for daily walks. Or plan to go outside and observe the world at the same time each day to notice God’s handiwork.

Spring activities with kids 2

Get some flowers. We can absorb such joy from simple aesthetics. God relishes beauty and, made in God’s image, we are brought to life being surrounded by it.

Springtime is a wonderful opportunity to search for new beauty that’s bursting into life. Blossoms are opening, birds returning, trees leafing out. Often, we even wear brighter colors when the weather warms. It’s like our whole world wakes up.

Bring some of this life indoors to remind you of spring’s display of newness and resurrection in nature. Whether you wander your yard searching for blooms to compose your own bouquet or go to the store to purchase a bundle, gift yourself or a friend with the season’s splendor.

Walk a labyrinth with your children. Sadly, many of our children are not exposed in the church to spiritual practices. So, the more parents are able to introduce them to various disciplines the better.

Several resources are available for the various ways of utilizing labyrinths. If you’ve never walked a labyrinth, enjoy the new experience alongside your children. Alternatively, if you’ve walked them before, consider trying a new way of walking or a head to a labyrinth you’ve never been to.

Labyrinths are a wonderful way to reflect on the cyclical nature of our year and our spiritual journey. Additionally, they’re suitable for children and adults, even families can do them together as a group. Conversations about the experience are a great follow-up to the practice.

Indoor Spring Activities with Kids

Spring activities with kids can be a little bit hard to plan, because the weather is often unpredictable. So, if it’s rainy out, try these two ideas that can easily by done inside.

Spring activities with kids

Create a springtime prayer with your children. Help your children learn the art of prayer by writing one together. There is no wrong way to talk to God, so don’t worry. As their parent, you are entirely equipped to teach them how to pray.

One simple way of speaking to God is by simply thanking God for what springtime has brought. Perhaps you work together to make the prayer rhyme, so it’s a bit easier to remember.

Once you’re finished, post it a few places around the house to remind you of the fresh gifts spring is giving. Then, try praying it at the start and close of the each day you’re together.

Spring activities with kids 3

Prepare a springtime feast. It is rare for most of us to connect to the Earth’s rhythms as a way of centering ourselves. The changing of seasons is an opportunity to do just that.

So, to intentionally take notice of the gifts spring gives to us, celebrate with a special meal. Using seasonal produce, give thanks to God for the changing of winter to spring. Notice and enjoy gifts from the Earth.

Additionally, it can be fun to invite friends and family. Perhaps encourage each person to bring a dish to share that uses ingredients unique to spring. Alternatively, ask guests to bring an item that symbolizes spring to them. Then, share about all the items during the meal.

What are you doing to welcome spring and thank God for its beauty? Don’t forget to share in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

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