This contemplative prayer station is great because the end results are flowers that grow every spring and serve as a visual reminder over the years. The physical symbol of trusting ones hopes to God is very powerful. This station can be used for gratitude as well.
Directions for Leadership:
Set up a table that has little pieces of paper, writing utensils and a basket of bulbs ready for planting. Have the directions placed in an obvious spot, arrows on the floor for p
eople to follow outside to the planting area, and another set of directions by the soil and shovels.
Make sure the planting area in ready to go, the earth soft, watering cans full, trowels scattered around, a basket with popsicle sticks (or some other way to mark where things are planted) and perhaps a place to wash dirty hands (bowl of water and towel).
This station is best done in the fall as that is the time for planting bulbs! If you want to be really dramatic and you have a spot in the sun, you can do this in the spring with sunflowers instead. For added items on the table you can hang pictures, place quotes and scriptures that address hope. You can also place something that talks about the liturgical calendar and how spring is a time of hope made new.
Prayer Station Instructions:
Inside:
Invite God into this space and take a moment to just thank God for every good thing in your life.
Then go through all the things in your life that you are hoping for. Examine those things. Why do you hope for each of those things? Give yourself several minutes to do this, the settle on one of those hopes and write it on a slip of paper.
Now, take that hope and pick one of the bulbs from the basket. Follow the arrows outside.
Outside:
Dig a hole and plant your hope in the ground (place the slip of paper beneath the bulb!) making sure to water it a bit to settle the earth in around it. Then place a marker over the spot.
As you do all this, pray your hope with your hands, letting go of this hope and handing it over to the care of our creator God.
