Jelly Beans and More

We have been preparing for the beginning of Lent here in the Brown household and since today is Ash Wednesday I thought I would share a couple of activities we will be undertaking over the next 40 days.

Today begins the first day of our Lenten activity based on the Jelly Bean Prayer...

RED IS FOR THE BLOOD HE GAVE.
GREEN IS FOR THE GRASS HE MADE.
YELLOW IS FOR THE SUN SO BRIGHT.
ORANGE IS FOR THE EDGE OF NIGHT.
BLACK IS FOR THE SINS WE MADE.
WHITE IS FOR THE GRACE HE GAVE.
PURPLE IS FOR HIS HOUR OF SORROW.
PINK IS FOR OUR NEW TOMORROW.

A BAG FULL OF JELLY BEANS COLORFUL AND SWEET,
IS A PRAYER, IS A PROMISE, IS A SPECIAL TREAT
MAY THE JOY OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION
FILL YOUR HEART AND BLESS YOUR LIFE.

This activity involves some jelly beans...

and a jar...

Today we set out a large jar for Hannah with a copy of the Jelly Bean Prayer attached.  For the next 40 days Hannah can earn one jelly bean a day of each color to place in her jar.  Each color jelly bean corresponds with a specific task or behavior based on the colors in the Jelly Bean Prayer.  The exception is the white jelly beans, which cannot be earned - they represent the Grace of Christ, which is a gift not earned ourselves.  On Easter morning, Hannah will wake up to find any empty space in her jar filled up with white jelly beans (Christ's grace).

Here is how we will interpret each color...

• Red is for the blood Christ gave (each morning we will choose something to sacrifice that day to earn the red jelly bean.  It will have to be something Hannah will have the opportunity to have or do on that day)
• Green is for the palm's cool shade (green jelly beans are earned for good deeds.  It was a good dead to provide shade for Jesus with the palm)
• Yellow is for God's light so bright (yellow jelly beans are earned for sharing God's light through kindness to others)
• Orange is for prayers at twilight (orange jelly beans are earned for attentive behavior during bedtime prayer time and night time bible story)
• Black is for sweet rest at night (black jelly beans are earned for going to bed like a big girl)
• White is for the Grace of Christ (white jelly beans cannot  be earned as mentioned above)
• Purple is for His days of sorrow (purple jelly beans are earned through apologizing to anyone we hurt with our words or deeds that day)
• Pink is for each new tomorrow (pink jelly beans are earned when we forgive those who apologize to us for hurtful behavior).

Because I am a little OCD and I needed something for Hannah to do while I was cooking supper, I had her go ahead and sort our jelly beans by color...

and Lily, who is a little young to participate this year, closely observed what her sister was up to...

We are also participating in 40 bags for 40 days this Lent.  The basic idea is to commit to 40 days of potentially uncomfortable "letting go" of some of the "stuff" that clutters our lives and so often interferes with our relationship with God.  It’s a pretty simple concept: We are committed to ridding our home of 40 bags of “stuff” during the 40 days of Lent.  We can throw it away or give it away—garbage, clothing, toys, books, etc.  We can pick the size of bag that makes the most sense for our circumstances—large garbage bags for a lot of clutter, smaller bags for less.  The rules aren't really hard and fast but we are going to try to do the best we can to "let go" of some of the material possessions that are cluttering our lives. 

This will truly be a challenging Lenten season but hopefully we are up to the task!