Lent Food Box

I wanted to do something meaningful with the boys this year for Lent.  However, instead of focusing on eliminating something from our lives, I wanted to find ways that we could add more helpfulness and giving into our lives.  Our most successful way of doing this was our Lent Food Box.  The boys both really took to this.  Every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday they would go into the pantry and pick something to put into the food box - often something that they themselves eat and enjoy (which was much more meaningful than just loading up our cart with a bunch of cheap stuff at Wal-Mart like we usually do when we shop for food drives and such). 

 

We also had a rule that the boys couldn't buy any new toys during Lent - not even with their own money, not even when brand-new, bright and shiny, wonderful new toys that they desperately wanted appeared at the store.  This wasn't the easiest thing for them to accept and there was grumbling, but whenever they did we would talk about how much they already have and how they should be extremely thankful for all of it. 

 

It was very meaningful to take this time to reflect on all of our blessings and think of ways that we could bless others.  We plan to continue the tradition of adding some sort of meaningful task to our daily life during Lent.

 

Our Lent Food Box became 3 food boxes.  We took them to the Hospitality House after Easter.