Teaching our children about Jesus' forgiveness

Randomly came across this link on one of my favorite early childhood education sites. The basic premis is that your family finds/makes a box and for a specfied time (they use the time of the lenten season, but really it could be any time...) you write down sins you are sorry for (thus you can teach your children that this is repentence--confessing our sins and determining not to repeat them anymore because we are sorry for them). Your family fills this sealed box and at the chosen date you destroy it however you choose (they suggest throwing it away or burning it). Then you talk about how Jesus casts our sins as far as the east is from the west. The website says it beautifully: "And we'll walk home with an empty box of repentance, giving thanks that He has written our names, not our sins, in His book of remembrance."

Depending on the age of your child, you can read scriptures that explain God's forgiveness and his commands to confess our sins.

Young children have such a hard time understanding abstract concepts such as forgiveness and grace and even repentence. This takes it to a literal, visual, tactile level that they can better understand.

Love it!