Day 32 – Make sure you see the smaller picture too
Morning prayer
Start you day with this prayer
Lord, thank you for your incredible plan for this world
And for me
Thank you for its intricacies, complexities
And glorious simplicities
Let me not forget those simple moments
Where You stand clearest before me
(Silence)
Amen
Prayer station
Use this symbol to lead you in prayer for the day.
Symbol: Favourite family photos
Together, look at your favourite family photos and reflect on and talk about the positive influence of being a family as well as events in your family life and the influence thereof on your lives as it is now.
Reflection
Read this reflection on the text for the day.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” – John 3:16.
The bigger picture is important and we should never lose sight of it. But, there is also another side, one that we often overlook: the smaller picture in which the daily things happen, the things that sometimes feel too boring to pay any attention to it in detail.
The bigger picture is sometimes very seductive exactly because it gives us a big mission in our life – at work, in church, in the society where we are trying to make a difference. But what does the big picture help us when we miss every smaller picture that forms part of our lives?
One way not to miss the smaller picture is to look back at yesterday. Our past plays an important role in our daily lives and in the choices we will make today. But it is very important to which yesterday we will look back. We should always start with God’s big yesterday of the crucifixion. Tomorrow we will reflect more on this.
Lord, open my eyes so that I may see what is truly important, what is important to You. Amen.
Liturgy for life
See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.
Before we look forward, look back
It is the last week of level 5 lockdown. At the end of this week certain adjustments will be made to how some of us may move around. Before we look forward to how we will live in this new reality, let’s look back at how we experienced the last few weeks.
Let everyone in your home think of something that was cancelled because of COVID-19. What will not happen anymore? Think about school tours and other events, maybe a family gathering. Even the Olympic Games that were supposed to happen later this year were called off. How does all of this make you feel? What do you feel you have lost?
And if I may ask a second strange question, What do you think you have gained in this time? If we think in terms of a short period of time, there were many losses of opportunities and experiences. God, however, looks at the big picture. Reflect on the many things that you have learned together in this time that will have a positive influence on your lives and relationships for many years to come.
Children’s activity
Play with your children.
Wow! 21 Days of isolation. 21 Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
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We make hundreds of decisions every day. There are the small decisions like what we are going to wear and how we will tie up our hair. Then there are also the difficult decisions that take longer to make, like how we are going to react when someone was rude to us. Sometimes we are so caught up with the less important decisions we have to make that we neglect the big decisions that we need to make and just shove them aside. We can always ask God to help us to remember what is important and to help us make the right decisions.
Tell of a time when you had to make an important decision.
What helped you to make this decision?
Activity
Write down a few activities that you like doing on different pieces of paper. Fold each paper and put it in a jar. Every time you are bored, take out one paper and do that activity.
Try today to go and sit alone somewhere and be quiet for five minutes (you can set an alarm if you want to). In these five minutes, talk to Jesus about everything going through your mind. Maybe you have to make a difficult decision or maybe you regret a decision you have made. Speak to Jesus about it.
Picture this
– Share what your bigger picture looks like. Find out from your friends what their bigger picture looks like. Are there any similarities?
– What does your smaller picture look like?
– Share the story of a time when you met God in your smaller picture.
Create your own interpretation of the illustration through any medium: dance, photography, videography, music, poetry, drawing, painting or short stories.
Record it and share it with us on social media with the hashtag #countdowndoodles
Thank you’s and testimonies
Share your testimony with us! Use the online form below.
Bedtime story
Bedtime story by storyteller Ewald van Rensburg