Three Ways To Make A Wake And Funeral Less Difficult For The Parents Of Someone That Has Passed Away
Losing a child can be very difficult for a parent to have to go through. If a loved one has recently lost their child, there are things you can do to make the wake and funeral easier for them. The following guide walks you through three ways to help your loved one get through the difficult experience of burying their child.
1. Create a Memory Jar
Near the entrance to the area where the wake will take place in the funeral home, have a table set up that has a jar on it with pieces of paper and pens. Write on a piece of paper for each person to write their favorite memory of the person that passed away and to place it in the jar so that the mother and father can share the fond memories later on down the road. Frame the message and place it on the table so that everyone will know what to do when they arrive at the wake.
2. Create a Photo Board
Gather pictures of the person that passed from friends and family to create a photo board that the parents can keep to enjoy photos of their child that they may not already have. Be sure to let the owners of the photos know that the pictures will be kept forever and if anyone has a problem with the pictures being kept, simply make a copy of the picture and use the copy on the photo board.
3. Create a Unique Guest Book
Finally, create a unique guest book on the table near the entrance to the wake by using small stones. You can find small decorative stones at a craft store. Add a permanent marker to the table and allow everyone to write their name on a rock and a message to the person that has passed. Have them place the rocks in a jar on the table and then give it to the parents for them to spread the rocks near the tombstone where their child is buried. This allows the parents to have wonderful things to share with their child when they come to visit their grave.
These things take very little time or money to do and will show your loved one how much you care about them. They will serve as a great way to make the wake and funeral even more special and help all of your family to come together during the tough time.
To learn more, contact a religious organization like Louis Suburban Chapel Inc.
Read More4 Ways To Revive Your Bible Study
No matter how good your intentions are, sometimes it can seem difficult to do your daily Bible study. Adding a few new ideas to your study can make it feel fresh and new again.
1. Study the people
The Bible can provide wonderful examples of how we should live our lives through the people in the scriptures. You can try studying people like Esther, Paul, and Moses and look at how they respond to the Lord’s commands. Then you can find ways to apply it into your own life and your own challenges.
2. Memorize passages
If there is a particular Psalm, proverb, or other verse or passage that you have always loved, consider memorizing it. Those memorized scriptures can come to your mind during the day or in conversations with family and friends. Having a storage of memorized scriptures can help you relate the scriptures to your everyday life and the situations you are going through.
3. Start a journal
Writing down your thoughts and feelings about what you are reading can help you remember what you’ve learned and make the scripture more relatable to your life. You can use stickers, different colored pencils or markers (even consider doing a color-coded system), or drawings to make the journal beautiful to look at and help you think about the Bible in ways that you might not have in the past. When you’ve been keeping the journal for a while, you can go back and study what you’ve done in the past. This way you can keep track of things that you have already learned.
4. Join a group
If you want to make things more meaningful, it can help to involve other people in your study. If you go to church regularly, see if your congregation has a Bible study group that you could join. If it doesn’t or if you don’t have a church you regularly go to, you can consider starting your own group or looking around at other churches in the area, such as New Gethsemane Baptist Church, to see what they offer. Studying with a group can help add motivation and to give you new perspectives and insights that you might not have had before.
However you decide to do it, adding some spark to your Bible study isn’t hard if you just add some creativity and think outside the box. Soon your Bible study can again be your favorite part of the day.
Read MoreUse These 3 Tips To Keep Teenagers Engaged During Bible Study
Leading a teen bible study group can be a challenge. It is not always easy to catch their attention, and it can be hard to tell if they are getting anything out of what you are teaching them. If you want to encourage teenagers to be more forthcoming, attentive and engaged, here are some things you can do.
Make it Relevant
If you’re like a lot of bible study leaders, you might have a few bible stories in mind that you want to share with teens in your group because of the spiritual lessons gleaned from them. However, if you cannot make it relevant to their lives in some way, the teenagers may not respond to it in the way you’d like.
Instead of talking only about the topic or story you want to teach, look for current events, films, music and other things that relate to the story. When they can mentally link your topic to something that they already know about, they can more eagerly respond to you.
Involve Technology
When you spend any time with teenagers these days, you find out that they enjoy their telephones, laptops and video game systems. If you really want to have a bible study group that stimulates the teens you’re working with, involve technology.
To do this, set up activities that use technology. For example, if you want to talk about gratitude, send the teens out with an assignment to create a video about what gratitude means to them personally. They will look forward to showing off their videos, and that can set off an enjoyable conversation about the subject at hand.
Keep in mind that every teenager might not have a smartphone, tablet or other devices. In that case, you might consider doing some things in teams or pairing up different people so that everyone can join in the fun.
Ask the Teens to Lead the Group
Teenagers can feel a sense of accomplishment and confidence when they are allowed to control portions of their lives, so give them every opportunity to do so. Ask each teen to be the group leader for a week. No one needs do it if they don’t want to, but the idea of being in charge for a week can be very enticing to the teenagers in your bible study group. This practice can also be rewarding for you, because you’ll get a chance to get a better idea about what they like and don’t like.
When you use the tips in this article to keep teenagers engaged during bible study, they are going to be more likely to talk and interact in a positive way. Talk to other people involved in youth ministry to get more ideas about what you can do to make your group a source of information and fellowship. For more information about youth ministry, visit Crossroads Baptist Church.
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