Prayer Cross

During the summer of 2012, my daughter and I visited a restaurant at the beach that gave me an idea. The restaurant had something called a Wishing Wall. Ever seen one? The whole wall was filled with tiny cubbies. Everyone was invited to write a wish on a colored piece of paper, roll it up, and stick it inside a cubby.  The different colored papers made the most beautiful abstract artwork!

I decided to make a cross with cubbies and have the kids write a prayer on their paper on the first day of Sunday school with the instructions that we would read them on the last day of class and discuss their outcomes. It took several weeks to completely fill the cross because I wanted to make sure everyone had an opportunity to write at least one prayer. There was really only one rule: the prayer had to be for someone else. We actually began reading the prayers about a month before the last day because I didn’t want to miss anyone who may be leaving for an early vacation.

I was quite pleased with how it all turned out. For those whose prayers were answered—well, isn’t God wonderful! For those whose prayers were not answered, we talked about how God’s plans are not always our plans. It was a wonderful segue into having faith that God knows best. Two people who had prayers that were not answered shared stories of how the unanswered prayer turned out to be the best thing. Again, isn’t God wonderful! 

This exercise teaches children to focus on looking to God for help, strength and understanding not just for ourselves, but for others as well. We see through answered prayers that God hears us. It draws us closer to Him and strengthens our faith and trust in Him. 

It's important to talk about how not all prayers are answered. Sometimes we can see later how that was the best thing, but sometimes we still don't understand why our prayers were not answered. This is where trust is so important. We have to remember that God always does the right thing, and although we don't understand it right now, He loves us deeply and is doing what is best for us. 

This would also be a great learning tool to use at home with the whole family, or with homeschoolers, play groups, and youth groups of all ages.  

Materials needed:

            6 wooden boxes (I found mine at Michael’s for just a few
                  dollars)

            15 toilet paper rolls (cut in half) or as many as needed to fill
                  your boxes

            Hot glue gun & glue

            Yarn or cord for hanging

            Command hook for hanging

            Strips of colored paper

  

1.  Glue boxes together in a cross pattern.

     2. Glue toilet paper halves in place.
3. Glue cord to back for hanging.

I think it’s prettier with the paper rolled tighter, so next time I’ll probably add pieces of cardboard in an X shape inside the toilet paper compartments to divide them into 4 smaller spaces each. I only had 12 kids last year, so I kept them large and we each had at least two prayers.

We hung our cross on the classroom door for everyone to enjoy.

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