From the Heart . .
.
Every year we religiously take home the CRS Rice Bowl at
the beginning of lent. When our children
were young, we were pretty consistent in praying for highlighted family of the
week. Every year I would begin lent with
the intention of making the weekly recipe.
We would throw our spare change in throughout the 40 days, and if we
found that we weren’t too generous with our spare change, we would put a $5 or
$10 in the rice bowl before turning in our rice bowl on Holy Thursday. Does this sound familiar to you?
As our children grew and our gathering around our dinner
table declined, we have gotten out of the practice of using the rice bowl as a
form of prayer during the Lenten season.
Inspired by the 40th anniversary of Operation Rice Bowl, I am
trying to get back into the practice of truly using the rice bowl to help me,
and my family, practice the three pillars of lent ~ prayer ~ fasting ~ giving.
I love the daily reflections and the suggestion of the
sacrificial giving for the day. I
especially liked the suggestion of putting $1.00 in the rice bowl for every
chair at your dining room table. This
really hit a heartstring for me because the dining room table is the heart of
our home, even if we aren’t gathering for a meal. As I put that $6.00 in the rice bowl, I
realized that each dollar doesn’t represent the chair, it represents my child
who is able to comfortably sit and never have to worry about being hungry. Perhaps that dollar will bring comfort to
another mother somewhere in the world who struggles daily just to feed her
child, let alone provide shelter and comfort.
With the help of CRS Global Kitchen, we have made two of
the recipes and have found them to be quite delicious. Perhaps since two of our children have served
our global community, I am more aware of global solidarity than I ever was
before. Looking for a way to celebrate
Lent?
Prayer: Pray the
Rice Bowl Prayer and read the message for the day
Fasting: Prepare
the suggested dish ~ or eat simply at least one night of the week
Giving: Be
intentional with your sacrificial giving
#4Lent4Life #prayfastgive
#40yearsofserving
Shalom,
Tina
No comments:
Post a Comment