This One's for the Moms!
Let me set the scene for you this morning. I'm sitting on the couch with my son. It's 8:30 am and the smell of coffee is in my house. He's wrapped up in his fuzzy red blanket and I can only see the tip of his hair. My husband is sitting adjacent to me, white mug in one hand and bible app open in the other. The sun is up but none of the lights are on so there is a lazy, ease-into-the-morning diffusion in the living room. We are sitting together in a comfortable silence. Reading, reflecting, thinking our own thoughts. When Ethan emerges from his bleary-eyed cocoon he grabs his Bible and reads a morning devotional. Afterwards he asks a question and a rich discussion begins.
Friday nights and Saturday mornings have a unique culture around our house. After a long week of work, sports, piano lessons, the family gathers around the table for homemade pizza and a movie. We have "intermission" where we stop to make popcorn and grab other munchies. Our family can let out a deep breath together after a long week of grabbing time together amidst the demands of the week. We often get movies from our childhood to share with the kids; classics like The Karate Kid or ET and even rewatch their old favorites like Cars. Then on Saturday morning, the scene described above unfolds naturally, allowing us to connect spiritually with their hearts and lives. Our rule is meet on the couch, grab your bible, a cozy blanket and a beverage if you want, and just be! What comes next is up to the Spirit and what He is doing on in our kids hearts...
Mother's Day is tomorrow and for me it's a chance to reflect on how I'm doing in guiding my kids deeper into their own walk with Jesus. I want an intimacy in how I live my life my faith before them. I have a deep responsibility to influence them and guide them in their journey toward who God is in their life. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." This can be my prayer and hope that the foundation being laid in my home, "According to the grace of God given to me, [let me be] like a skilled master builder" (1 Corinthians 3:10) so my kids will grown "storing up for themselves...so that they make take hold of what is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:19).
When my kids were small we read the Jesus Storybook Bible before bed and took them to Sunday school. We've lived lives of service before them and taught them to give. We've always had community of believers to meet with regularly, to model for them the importance of doing life with the family of God, not just attending on Sunday. These things have come easier for us because they are a natural part of our own life and parenting has become an extension of our own habits. But having devotions has always been a sticking point. It seems like our grand intentions of sitting down and teaching them always goes sideways. When you sit down at dinner intending to follow up on the youth group lesson and all your kids do is fight! When homework has been mysteriously forgotten until the 11th hour so instead of opening up the word together your stuck working on equivalent fractions. When you want to stop in their room and pray with your kid at night and find instead that they still haven't showered or made their lunch for school tomorrow. This is real life. We have an enemy of raising our kids up to be citizens of the kingdom and he is constantly attempting to thwart our attempts at connecting spiritually. He is strategic and often puts the ways of the world in front of us to distract us from our higher calling.
I write this today not because I've figured it all out, but because our family has found out a way where it works 94.6% of the time...yes, we still create intention space for their faith to grow--the distractions and complications that come are way are not excuse, but I've realized as a mother the best most authentic times of teaching my children come from the opportunities given each day.
Example from yesterday: I left work at 3 and got home at 5. I have a 15 minute commute home but some horrific traffic had me running circles to get home, using the same routes as everyone else. This caused major backups and clogged arteries on every side street and backroad. As soon as I've found a clear spot, the kids call saying their bus can't make it with the traffic issues, I need to pick them up. On my way, my anxiety is building. There is nothing I hate worse than traffic! I pray through it and start to feel a little peace, but my frustration builds again and I pick them up in an aggravated state. Here begins an opportunity, a seed planted for a conversation about how prayer helped, how I wasn't able to stick with its, how God forgives me. The thing that blessed my heart the most is a comment from my son that showed his compassion. You see the traffic was caused by a unthinkable-event, a man wanted to end his life and was on the overpass threatening to jump. Luckily our heroes in law enforcement were able to get to him in time. My son, instead of being upset of waiting at school for me to get him for an hour, talked with me about how grateful he is that he has hope and wishing that for this man.
So how does it work for me as a mom? When do I see the most impact in growing the faith of my kids? I've seen the command of God in Deuteronomy 6 bear fruit time and again if I ask God to show me the opportunities that He created each day: "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (verse 7). Growing our kids in faith is intentional time but more often it's in the car, hanging out on the couch-- those random moments that turn into conversation. It's grabbing a moment where there is a spiritual principal at hand, a story of your own struggles, asking forgiveness when you lose your tempter, a demonstration of the creativity and power of God enjoying a walk outside...a demonstration of His character of grace when they are hangry and just need a snack for the love!
I leave you with a word of encouragement: Mom's you can do it! Pray and look for those natural, unplanned opportunities to train them up. You just might be surprised how many God gives you as He helps you raise His kids up to love His heart.
Friday nights and Saturday mornings have a unique culture around our house. After a long week of work, sports, piano lessons, the family gathers around the table for homemade pizza and a movie. We have "intermission" where we stop to make popcorn and grab other munchies. Our family can let out a deep breath together after a long week of grabbing time together amidst the demands of the week. We often get movies from our childhood to share with the kids; classics like The Karate Kid or ET and even rewatch their old favorites like Cars. Then on Saturday morning, the scene described above unfolds naturally, allowing us to connect spiritually with their hearts and lives. Our rule is meet on the couch, grab your bible, a cozy blanket and a beverage if you want, and just be! What comes next is up to the Spirit and what He is doing on in our kids hearts...
Mother's Day is tomorrow and for me it's a chance to reflect on how I'm doing in guiding my kids deeper into their own walk with Jesus. I want an intimacy in how I live my life my faith before them. I have a deep responsibility to influence them and guide them in their journey toward who God is in their life. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." This can be my prayer and hope that the foundation being laid in my home, "According to the grace of God given to me, [let me be] like a skilled master builder" (1 Corinthians 3:10) so my kids will grown "storing up for themselves...so that they make take hold of what is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:19).
When my kids were small we read the Jesus Storybook Bible before bed and took them to Sunday school. We've lived lives of service before them and taught them to give. We've always had community of believers to meet with regularly, to model for them the importance of doing life with the family of God, not just attending on Sunday. These things have come easier for us because they are a natural part of our own life and parenting has become an extension of our own habits. But having devotions has always been a sticking point. It seems like our grand intentions of sitting down and teaching them always goes sideways. When you sit down at dinner intending to follow up on the youth group lesson and all your kids do is fight! When homework has been mysteriously forgotten until the 11th hour so instead of opening up the word together your stuck working on equivalent fractions. When you want to stop in their room and pray with your kid at night and find instead that they still haven't showered or made their lunch for school tomorrow. This is real life. We have an enemy of raising our kids up to be citizens of the kingdom and he is constantly attempting to thwart our attempts at connecting spiritually. He is strategic and often puts the ways of the world in front of us to distract us from our higher calling.
I write this today not because I've figured it all out, but because our family has found out a way where it works 94.6% of the time...yes, we still create intention space for their faith to grow--the distractions and complications that come are way are not excuse, but I've realized as a mother the best most authentic times of teaching my children come from the opportunities given each day.
Example from yesterday: I left work at 3 and got home at 5. I have a 15 minute commute home but some horrific traffic had me running circles to get home, using the same routes as everyone else. This caused major backups and clogged arteries on every side street and backroad. As soon as I've found a clear spot, the kids call saying their bus can't make it with the traffic issues, I need to pick them up. On my way, my anxiety is building. There is nothing I hate worse than traffic! I pray through it and start to feel a little peace, but my frustration builds again and I pick them up in an aggravated state. Here begins an opportunity, a seed planted for a conversation about how prayer helped, how I wasn't able to stick with its, how God forgives me. The thing that blessed my heart the most is a comment from my son that showed his compassion. You see the traffic was caused by a unthinkable-event, a man wanted to end his life and was on the overpass threatening to jump. Luckily our heroes in law enforcement were able to get to him in time. My son, instead of being upset of waiting at school for me to get him for an hour, talked with me about how grateful he is that he has hope and wishing that for this man.
So how does it work for me as a mom? When do I see the most impact in growing the faith of my kids? I've seen the command of God in Deuteronomy 6 bear fruit time and again if I ask God to show me the opportunities that He created each day: "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (verse 7). Growing our kids in faith is intentional time but more often it's in the car, hanging out on the couch-- those random moments that turn into conversation. It's grabbing a moment where there is a spiritual principal at hand, a story of your own struggles, asking forgiveness when you lose your tempter, a demonstration of the creativity and power of God enjoying a walk outside...a demonstration of His character of grace when they are hangry and just need a snack for the love!
I leave you with a word of encouragement: Mom's you can do it! Pray and look for those natural, unplanned opportunities to train them up. You just might be surprised how many God gives you as He helps you raise His kids up to love His heart.
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