This year, I find my thoughts focused on what I do and do not have. Most people at some time or another feel a bit deprived. We all know people who just seem to have more than we do. They live in bigger homes, wear better quality clothes, drive newer cars, and take longer vacations to more inviting places. Meanwhile, we sacrifice, pray, and volunteer all kinds of time at church and perhaps community organizations, too, but seem to go without the things we want—sometimes without things we feel we really, really need.

These thoughts bring Jonah to mind. God gave him three days of time-out, so to speak, in the whale. There, during the quiet minutes and hours, he could meditate on what God wanted for him and from him. Or consider that Jesus himself spent 40 days in the desert, praying and reflecting and sacrificing even while Satan worked to dissuade him from God’s eternal plan that Jesus suffer and die to win our salvation.

As I reflect during Lent this year, my goal is to focus more on what God in his perfect love wants for me, letting that inform what I might think I need or want for myself.

God forced Jonah to contemplate. Jesus did it willingly. How about you? What might your Savior want to tell you? How might he want to change you? The weeks ahead are a perfect time to open your heart to his Word and find out.

Editor’s note: CTA’s new devotion book, “Power of the Cross,” would make the perfect guide and companion as you and others in your church meditate on the meaning of Jesus’ death during Lent this year. It’s not too late to order copies for your group or your whole congregation!

Short. To the point. Powerful in its simplicity. First John 4:19 is all that and more. I call attention to this verse as I work with my kindergarten students and as I talk with my own children each year whenever we focus on Valentine’s Day. 

Looking around at the flowers, hearts, cupids and candy that overflow from store shelves this time of year, I know I can feel overcome by the commercialism of it all. That’s when it helps me to focus attention God’s love for us. And that’s the message I work to communicate to all the children in my care every day.

This year, Ash Wednesday comes just three days after Valentine’s Day. As Christians observe both, our Savior reminds us of his love for us, despite our sins. In the weeks of Lent ahead, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, we will think often about the mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus who died on the cross because He loved us so much.

God himself is the source of all love. He is the essence and definition of the word love. In response to all he has done and all he will do for us, both now and throughout eternity, we actively look for ways to demonstrate his love by serving others.

Check out the CTA website for some great ideas about keeping children (and adults, too) connected to their Savior throughout the Lenten/Easter season. You will find many products and projects there that will make the all-important truth of God’s love a fun and easy one for your children to learn. Now that’s something to celebrate!

Here in Minnesota, it can be hard to think of January as a time of new beginnings. We are in the heart of winter; everything is covered with snow and ice, and we are happy if the temperatures reach into the double digits.

Still, while I was driving to school after Mass this morning, I saw God’s glory reflected everywhere. The sky was a pristine blue, and the sun was shining. The overnight fog had crystallized on the trees, and snow blankets everything in sparkling white.

It reminded me that every day is new in Christ. Why? Because our sins and wrongdoings are things of yesterday. God is full of grace and healing, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. Every day when I arise, He gives me the opportunity to start anew, to consecrate the day to Jesus, and to remember that He lives in me.

May He bless your new day today in that hope!

The kits were easy to assemble and the children loved the experience of “creating” their own nativity set, especially since they have read and learned so much about Jesus’ birth this month. 

Traditionally, the Christmas season in liturgical churches starts on Christmas Day and extends into January, culminating with Epiphany on January 6, so it is not too late to use the nativity kits.

Christmas Day will soon come and go, but we will have some winter vacation days at home with our children before they must go back to school.  This craft would be an excellent activity for one of winter’s cold and snowy days at home! 

Enjoy your families and may God grant you all a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Just as we adults can feel bombarded by the materialism of our society at this time of year so, too, can our children. They can so easily be drawn into the glitter and bright lights of the shopping season, deceived by ads designed to help them confuse “What I truly need” with “What I really, really want.”

As Christian adults and children, we believe a relationship with Jesus fills our deepest need. We know that his love for us is the one gift that truly lasts forever. Together, we remind one another of this—in church, in our families, in our circle of friends. For example: 

• During this Advent season, we sing songs focused on God’s gift of a Savior.
• We plan ways to do kind things for those around us.
• Maybe you remember the practice of putting a handful of hay or a single straw in a small ”manger” when you do something helpful for someone else during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Children still love that practice! It works!
• In my class, we always plan a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” party as well.

CTA has been an enormous help to me, both as a mother and a teacher, in helping children keep the main things the main things during the Christmas season. I encourage you to check out CTA’s Christmas crafts and gifts for children.

While we do these things, though, we can also prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. What a precious gift God sent to us! As I reflect on this, I wonder how one does best prepare for our Savior? How do we get ready to celebrate his coming to live among us to save us for all eternity? The gift is so big!

Considering that gift and Christ’s holy life, I think about being holy—like Jesus—in my day to day life. I ask that he keep my heart open to him and that he show me how to be his hands and feet for all those whose lives my life touches. This is my way of keeping my life simple and keeping Jesus as the center. Jesus is the one thing that really matters.

 One of my kindergarten students recently visited Disney World. She returned with a gift for me. Her mother told me, “She searched for days looking for the perfect gift for you. You have really touched her heart.” It was so humbling to realize that Jesus really is working through me, despite the commotion and busyness of life!

 Jesus is working through you, too! May he touch many hearts through each of our lives this Christmas season!

It’s so easy to look around at other people and envy the things that they have: I hear about a friend going on vacation. I talk to another friend about her family’s new vehicle. I see that a co-worker has just purchased a new state-of- the-art cell phone.

 It is not easy to separate oneself from the desire for material possessions, especially in our culture. It’s not easy, but it’s important. It helps me when I remember God’s promise to provide what I need. It helps when I remember that those around me with the new cars and cell phones may be dealing with hardships I know nothing about. It helps when I focus on the blessings God has given me—especially his blessings of peace, hope, and forgiveness in Jesus.

 This Thanksgiving, focus on the blessings God has given you!  If you think about it, they are many, and they are probably all you really need.

As much as we need courage, our Lord wants to give it to us. Courage is a virtue—one that comes to us as a gift from our Savior. He wants to pour courage into to us throughout life. That gift makes it possible for us to give ourselves to him and trust in him in body, mind, and spirit. 

As we face life’s difficulties, we can remember those who came before us. This past weekend in many liturgical churches God’s people observed “All Saints Day.” Among other thing, it reminds us that no generation was without its trials and sufferings, its ordeals and struggles. We thank God for our parents and for Christians in generations before them who relied on him, courageously raising their families, building our schools and churches, and inspiring us in our generation to take a stand for what is good, true, and beautiful. 

We “bend our knee before the Lord who made us” (Psalm 95:6). And we ask for his gift of courage.

I find this to be a very special time of year, yet another beautiful season God sends us to enjoy. With these changes, we also begin to see pumpkins and scarecrows. Whether we live in a farming community or not, we begin to hear talk about the fall harvest.

In my classroom this time of year, we talk about the differences between fall and summer. Although many of my kindergarteners prefer summer, talking about all the positive aspects of fall helps them discover God’s glory in every season. As they name their own fall favorites, cooler days, raking leaves, bonfires, and going apple-picking almost always find their way onto our class list. We talk about the harvest, and about how God has blessed us with food for the winter months ahead.

Children love pumpkins, especially carving them and decorating them. I teach that just as a pumpkin with a candle inside shines with light from one end of the neighborhood to the other, we can shine with the light and love of Jesus. He lives in us and that means his love radiates from us into the lives of all the people we see every day.

CTA has some wonderful resources to help reinforce this theme. Check them out on CTA’s Fall Festival pages or look for G.L.O.W. or S.H.I.N.E. products.

Happy autumn!

As a mother, I am also busy preparing my own children to start a new grade.  I have children in college, high school, junior high school, and elementary school.  It is hard for me to believe how quickly they have grown.  It seems  that only last week my college age children were starting kindergarten! 

During this time of transition and new beginnings, we all can thank God for the many blessings he has given us: Our children. Our schools. Our teachers. And we can thank him, too, for the fresh start this time of year brings and the opportunities that come along with new beginnings.