As we prepare our seders for a Passover remembrance that will be held almost exclusively in homes this year while the world is in the midst of a pandemic, we have been given a powerful chance to reflect on the deeper meaning of being delivered from the plagues of Egypt. The isolation of this season has not been lost on me. My meditation even before our state began its stay-at-home order has been on Yeshua’s passion, but particularly His utter aloneness as He faced the cross. What despair He must have felt as even His closest companions fell asleep during His most trying hour. Everything has stopped, it seems. We are all alone in our homes, some with family, and some completely by themselves. May the reality of Christ facing His death on His own, knowing even His Father would turn His face from Him, permeate our hearts because He did this so that we would NEVER be truly alone.
Due to hobby stores being closed, I did not have a chance to purchase wheat stalks to use for our omer counting this year. Over the years our family has used a variety of ways to count, from beads on pipe cleaners to a calendar with boxes to x off, but the main point is to remember, and to anticipate. The wheat counters are not required, but they are a good reminder each day as we count 49 days from Passover to Shavuot to labor over our own hearts along with our heavenly Abba, letting Him reveal to us where He wants to help us grow. It’s often a season of struggle, at least in our experience as a family, and this year will likely be no different. It’s a kind of vigil that we keep with Abba that goes on from the night of the seder until the day we memorialize both His instruction in the Torah and His Comforter being given to us.
This printable omer calendar can fill in if you don’t currently have a way of counting the omer or want to try something really simple and yet attractive (at least I think it looks nice 😉). It can be as fancy as you want it to be, as the tutorial below will show, or it can just be printed and taped to the refrigerator. The counter circles can be cut out and colored with markers and glued on each day. Let the kids join in with you as you recite the blessing each day (provided at the bottom of the calendar sheet), and get excited for yet another year of keeping the ancient ways until one day “our faith will be our eyes.”
Download the Omer Calendar
Print page one on cardstock if you have it. Print page two on colored paper if you like (here I decided on a yellow scrapbook paper in keeping with the wheat motif), or just print on regular paper if you plan to color in the counters each day.
Cut out the circle counters.
I love using my laminator for projects, but you do NOT have to laminate yours, especially if you plan to color the circle counters. Two 8.5×11 laminating sheets is all you need if you decide to go this route.
I happened to have some Velcro pieces leftover from a project I did a few years ago, and they worked nicely here. I put the soft pieces on the calendar page and the sticky pieces on the backs of the circle counters. Again, not needed unless you want to get fancy!
Done! I like that the Velcro makes the counters look like they’re floating. The laminating and Velcro make this quite sturdy, and I’m pretty sure it will last the whole seven weeks.
I hope you enjoy using this calendar. Feel free to pass it along to friends who might benefit as well.
Hebron Heights Academy 