Wednesday’s Weekly Blessing

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Kids have their own cell phones? Text them a Blessing!

Texting a Blessing on my cell phone

Here’s what I texted (or you could say this out loud to them in person)…

A Blessing for you! God has placed wisdom and strength within you. Love, Mom

I just discovered this new way of connecting with my far-flung kids!
How about texting your other family members and your friends? (We all need Blessings!)

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Why should I be doing this Blessing stuff? Click here to find out.
And check here for other blessings you may try out.


Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Other photo from my archives.

Wednesday’s Weekly Blessing- inspiration

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
frustrationHas your child ever experienced homework-writer’s-block?

Have you ever heard the whining response “I can’t do it” when they are challenged by a math problem.

Or when faced with choosing a report topic: “I don’t know what to do!”

 

How about offering a Blessing?

Say your child’s name and…

'God surrounds you with an unlimited source of inspiration!

Life's Options written on flower petals

It might not offer immediate help, but it plants God’s words in their heart and that is the point of offering Blessings.

What helpful words can you offer to your struggling child?


Click on a box if you would like to…
A check-box Satisfy your curiosity about why you should bless your child.
A check-box View other suggested blessings.


Photo credits:
Frustration by Jeff Meyer, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons (NC-SA 2.0) License.
Life’s Options by Pink Sherbet Photography, who licensed this photo under a Creative Commons License via Wikimedia Commons.

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What do Arbor Day and Easter have in common?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

University of Michigan students participate in an Earth Day Tree Hugging Flash MobFriday was Arbor Day. In the town where I live, that meant a free tree! Of course I can’t pass up the chance to plant another tree. The nice people giving out free Douglas Fir trees also offered me a flyer about Arbor Day. This caught my eye; this description of Arbor Day as a distinctive holiday…

 
Open quote markMost holidays celebrate something that has already happened and is worth remembering like the day someone was born or a religious holiday celebrating a past event. Arbor Day reflects a hope for the future.

Not so fast Arbor Day! You don’t have the corner on this market!

Hope for the future? What about Easter!?

Though comparing Easter to Arbor Day is like matching up apples to oranges, it did cause me to ponder.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Ask your family: What are the similarities between these two holidays? What are the differences?

Both holidays share in hope for the future, but Easter has an advantage… we don’t have to wait for a tiny tree to grow into a towering timber.

With Easter there is no wait.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can have a close relationship with our mighty God…today!

That is something worth celebrating every day!

A freshly planted Douglas Fir seedlingA massive Douglas Fir tree
On the left, the bucket was placed there as a size comparison. This is a seedling! Though it has high hopes for someday being tall!


Photo credits:
The seedling photo is from my archives.
Tree huggers is by the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment.
The massive Douglas Fir is by Wildcat Dunny. Both of these Flickr photos were licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Wednesday’s Weekly Blessing – Confident

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Sticks and stones

Do you remember this playground chant?

'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

I remember saying that. (It didn’t help.)

We now know that it isn’t true; words can be very powerful! All the more reason to impart for your children, words that leave them with a sense of God’s love.

Bless your child(ren), on a regular basis.

Here’s one: Say your child’s name and…

'God calls you confident and courageous.

A child works up confidence


Click on a box if you would like to…
A check-box Satisfy your curiosity about why you should bless your child.
A check-box View other suggested blessings.


Photo credits:
Sticks and stones by Fran Hogan, offered in the Public Domain at PublicDomainPictures.net.
Attempting something new by Sébastien Bertrand, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

Are you seeing ads? They are not from me! They are placed by WordPress, who otherwise offers a free platform from which to share lots of good-ness. If you see an inappropriate ad, please report it to support@wordpress.com. Include the URL, the date/time the ad appeared, and a screenshot of the ad.

Holy Week: Holy Saturday (almost there)

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

We’ve taken a journey through Holy Week, with questions for family discussion. Ready for one more day? It’s Holy Saturday!

Three empty crosses looking forlorn

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Jesus was dead, so what happened on Saturday of Holy Week?

We don’t know for sure but probably not much. Saturday for Jewish people, was the Sabbath; a day of rest. Jesus had been buried in a tomb (a place to put dead bodies; probably a cave) on Friday, before sunset – when the Sabbath started. Working on the Sabbath was forbidden. It was to be a day of downtime and prayer. There was probably a great deal of sadness and mourning among Jesus’ followers, who were afraid and hiding out.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble If the disciples had gone into hiding, who buried Jesus’ body?

If you’re not sure about the answer to this one, how about a little look-it-up-in-the-Bible practice? Find the answer in all four Gospels but how about this one: Luke 23:50-54. (Or you can click on the Bible passage to read an on-line Bible. But don’t you want to show your adults how quickly you can find the Gospels?)

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Wait a minute! The guy who buried Jesus… he was one of the council who had arrested Jesus; the ones who had convinced Pilate to condemn him to death?! What is that about?

That’s right, he was a part of the Sanhedrin. John’s Gospel tells us that another member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, joined in the burial process, both at great risk to their public identity.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble How did only one or two people move the stone to close the tomb? Wasn’t it huge?

Right, this wasn’t your garden-sized stone! Estimates are that it weighed between one-and-one-half to two tons! But it was easy to close the tomb – gravity was employed. The circular stone was in a channel carved with a slight downward pitch towards the tomb’s entrance. (See the photo below.) To close the tomb one would have only had to remove a wedge that held the stone in place; it would then roll closed. Opening the tomb would have been another story!

A Jerusalem tomb showing how the stone would have been placed
Not Jesus' tomb, just an example. Note: the box is a step into the tomb. Notice the channel for the stone.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble (No right or wrong answers here!)

  • Whom do you relate to: Joseph of Arimathea – willing to be a secret disciple, or the followers of Jesus in hiding?
  • Do you suppose the disciples in their grief wondered about the words of Jesus with regards to being killed and rising after three days? (For a couple of examples check out Mark 8:31, Mark 10:32-34, or John 2:19).

Thanks for joining us on our Holy Week series.

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Photo credits…
Empty crosses offered by Max Pixel, in the CC0 1.0 Public Domain.
Tomb stone channel by James Emery, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.
Speech bubbles from public domain via WPClipart.com.

Holy Week: What is good about Good Friday?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

How about some more family discussion on our journey through our series on Holy Week? Even though this day was full of sadness.

Remember: scroll down just until you see a “Time Out. Talk About…” question. Read the question with your group and allow everyone to share their answers. Scroll some more to see the answer. A good reason for computer time!

The judgment of Jesus

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Why do you suppose it’s called “Good Friday?” What can be good about the day Jesus died?

an empty crossActually there is no known correct answer to this question. The Friday before Easter being called “Good Friday” could have come from the shortening of an English phrase “God’s Friday” much like the word, “good-bye” originally started off as “God be with you.”

It certainly wasn’t a good day for the followers of Jesus back when it actually happened; they had to watch him be killed.

We can call it “good” because we can look back on the day Jesus died, from our perspective of knowing what happened on Easter!

But we are getting ahead of ourselves; there are still the events that happened on Friday of the very first Holy Week. When we left off yesterday, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane…

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Jesus was arrested in the garden, but what happened next?

Jesus had a long night. (It was late at night when he was arrested). He went through a series of trials, was beaten, whipped, spit upon, treated badly, and sentenced to die on a cross—a humiliating and cruel form of torture and execution.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble But why were the people who had Jesus arrested so determined to kill him?

The simple answer: Fear. (Unfortunately fear can result in hatred.) The Sanhedrin had ordered Jesus’ arrest. The Sanhedrin was a very powerful Jewish court made up of religious leaders. They were threatened by Jesus, his message and his popularity. The gospels portray the Sanhedrin as a group most interested in preserving their own power and position.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble What was it that happened with the man named Barabbas? (To hear how Barabbas is pronounced, go here.)

It was the practice at Passover to let one prisoner go free. Pilate (the Roman governor) offered to release Jesus, but the crowd demanded instead the release of Barabbas, a known robber and murderer. The gospels make it clear that Pilate did not believe that Jesus was guilty. But the crowd yelled, “Crucify him.” Pilate eventually succumbed to the will of the crowd and ordered Jesus to be whipped and then to be crucified.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble What does crucified mean?

Jesus was killed by a process called “crucifixion;” we say he was “crucified.” This is where a person is either hung on a cross or nailed to a cross (the latter in Jesus’ case). It was a horrible way to die. (Thank goodness we don’t do that anymore!)

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble (No right or wrong answers here!)

  • Have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do? What happened?
  • When have you seen or heard about an instance of hatred that probably stemmed from fear?
  • When have you given in to the pressure of what the “crowd” wanted to do? How did you feel about this?
  • What do you suppose happened to Barabbas? (The Bible doesn’t tell us.)

Stay tuned for the next installment of our series on Holy Week.


Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives. The painting of the Judgment of Jesus was taken in Corfu, Greece. Unfortunately I failed to note the artist.
Speech bubbles via WPClipart.com, in the public domain.

Holy Week: The Last Supper and the Garden

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

It is Thursday and that means our post for today in our Holy Week series, focuses on Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper and in the Garden of Gethsemane. Time to gather your family around the computer screen – scoot in close so you can see – for a quiz of sorts. (And a chance for some family discussion.) Remember, scroll just enough to see a question. Before scrolling further down, see if anyone knows the answer.

First, a picture of some kids reenacting the Last Supper.

The Last Supper enacted by kids

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Two questions: Why do we call it the “Last Supper” and they were celebrating some sort of special occasion – what was it?

It is called the “Last Supper” because it was the last time that Jesus and his disciples ate together before Jesus was killed. They were celebrating the Passover feast.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble The Passover feast? What is Passover?

A Hebrew paints blood on the lintel of a doorpost

Passover refers to when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. That is when the very first Passover occurred. God had brought a series of plagues on the Egyptians, to persuade the Pharaoh to free the Israelites so they could leave Egypt.

The last plague (out of a series of ten; that Pharaoh was a tough cookie!) was the plague on the firstborn; every first-born son was killed. The Israelites, however, were safe. This plague “passed over” their houses because they had been instructed to mark their door posts with the blood of a lamb.

God had told the Israelites that they should have a special meal every year afterwards to commemorate this saving event. This meal is full of symbolic foods that help the Israelites (and Jews today!) re-tell the story – and remember.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Jesus did something special at this meal, which we use today to remember. What was it that Jesus did?

Luke 22:19-20 tells us that during this meal Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying…

'This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of remembering me!

After the meal he picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to his disciples and said…

'This is my blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes his new agreement.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Breaking bread… a cup… that sounds real familiar! I hear that when….

That’s right, Communion. When we eat of the bread and drink of the wine (we use grape juice) we are remembering Jesus.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Where did Jesus and his disciples go after they finished their meal? (Hint: the photo below shows)

Jesus prays as the disciples sleep, in the Garden of Gethsemane

They go to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knows that his time on earth is short. He is compelled to spend time with God in prayer. He asks his disciples to pray and he goes about a stone’s throw away to pray.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble What was he praying about?

With much anguish Jesus prayed…

'If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.  Matthew 26:39.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble (No right or wrong answers here!)

  • When Jesus spoke about his body and his blood, do you suppose the disciples understood what he was talking about?
  • What does Communion mean to you?
  • What do you make of Jesus’ prayer in the garden? What does it teach you about Jesus?
  • The disciples ended up falling asleep in the garden. How would you have felt if you had been there and had fallen asleep on the job?

Stay tuned for the next installment of our series on Holy Week.


Photo credits:
Last Supper and garden photos by Evans or Maria Koukios, © 2011, used by permission.
Passover clipart by Richard Gunther, sourced via ClipArt.com and used with permission.
Speech bubbles via WPClipart.com. Quote marks via Clker.com. The last two are in the public domain.