SKY VBS Day 3

Day 3 at Sky Vacation Bible School

Prayer Flags

We had a marvelous day at VBS!

I first heard about Prayer Flags from Jane LaFazio.  Her article is in the magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors Issue 41 (March/April 2012).  Jane is a part of the Prayer Flag Project.  This was started by Vivika Hansen DeNegre in 2011.  Check out her Prayer Flag Blog here.  You can participate as well!

I was touched by all this and it stuck with me when it came time to decide which crafts this year to use for Vacation Bible School.  My thoughts and heart immediately went to all the children making their own Prayer Flag and hanging them at the Church.  

Now many artists use what they have on hand and attach various items to make their own Prayer Flags, working on them for days or weeks even.  I knew I needed to modify this for the children I would work with and in the time frame of 20 minutes.

After many discussions, we finally decided on using unbleached muslin and fabric pastels.

All 241 Prayer Flags cut, sewn and ready for some little prayers

Here is some of my wonderful volunteer's Prayer Flags we did a few weeks ago!

I started today's class talking about today's lesson:

No matter what people do... trust God!

As I discussed our lesson, I moved right into talking about Prayer...

We most often think about Prayer as being on our knees and our hands just so...

and then I asked them....

Did you know you can pray with a pencil?  A pen? A marker?

Their eyes lit up and some said "What?"

I told them... 

You can write your prayer, but you can also

pray by drawing a picture of the very person or thing you are praying for...

I cannot convey on this simple blog the depth we reached today with the Prayers I heard all morning. It was such a truly touching experience to hear what these little ones think and pray about.

So touching....

Praying for endangered animals, Mom and Dad, sisters, brothers, sick Grandparents, pets, doing well in various sports, angels, God, Jesus on the cross, monster trucks, Haiti, orphans, babies born that don't make it out of the hospital, relatives that have died, pets that have died and their new pets.  The list goes on and on..

We decided that tomorrow we will make 2 journal entries, one for today and tomorrow's.  That gave them time to not only draw, but a bit of time to think about what they wanted to pray for first.

I am so fortunate to have 180 prayer flags hanging in my Imagination Station!  By the way, we have big plans for them for the final ceremony!  Pictures will be coming next week.

I greatly encourage you to use this idea in your life.  Using this idea for your own prayers and/or with  children is effective and provides that visual we artists crave.  And with that visual, you will be reminded to say your prayer again and again.

I can assure you that you will be richly rewarded when you not only see, but feel the prayers of the little ones.

I also wanted to share a very special book I recently read, titled Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth.  This book helped open my eyes to the many ways we can pray.

Thanks once again to the wonderful volunteers who helped the children put their prayers in visual form!

reaping the rewards on this artist holiday,

hannah