Last weekend I went camping with my family and some friends with four children. As the evening got dark and we were eating (a very late) dinner, we lit a sky lantern. Before we lit it, we chatted about the lantern floating far away being a picture of us letting go of regrets, things we’d done wrong or things we wanted God to take away.
Having carefully removed all the packaging and lit the lantern, we did have a few false starts (and shouts of ‘Away from the tents!’) before we got it to lift off and away out of our field and into the distance.
I still find them quite lovely and awesome things to watch, so quiet and yet travelling so fast on the wind.
We also had a child-instigated discussion about litter, and discovered that the lanterns I’d been bought are handmade and have no wire like some lanterns do. The fuel block is held on with some strong string and so the whole thing should burn up leaving no litter or dangerous wire for animals. All good!
Why not try your own lantern prayer?