Remembering our Creator with Kids
The Missio Dei blog is intended to provide space for a diverse array of voices, stories, and experiences from within and around our community. While we celebrate the ongoing journey of each beloved member of our community and contributor to our blog, the views expressed here do not necessarily reflection the positions, beliefs, or views of Missio Dei as an organization.
BY BECKY ROSENTHAL
I grew up in a Christian home, yet we didn't have many rhythms of bringing God back into our home. So for me as a mom, it was all a blank slate. I knew I wanted to incorporate some faith practices with my family, I just needed to choose which ones and how to go about it all. I started simply, and maybe even subconsciously, with the practices that I've held close in my journey: being in the word and recognizing God in nature.
“I knew I wanted to incorporate some faith practices with my family... I started with the practices I’ve held close in my journey: being in the word recognizing God in nature.”
The first practices we started was reading verses together when Everett started going to pre-k. Now, at breakfast, we all read a short devotional along with a few verses. We pick a verse on Monday (or Tuesday if it didn't happen on Monday) to be our verse of the week, reading it as much as we can throughout the week. Usually at dinner times I ask Everett to read the verse aloud. At the end of the month, he writes down all of the verses and we start fresh with a new set of verses. In the past, we've done a verse a day but that can get overwhelming, and there have definitely been seasons when we’ve gotten out of rhythm but we try and just pick it back up again. While we don't memorize the verses, I still believe that being in the word regularly helps the truths to sink into our hearts and spill out into our lives.
The second practice I've tried to implement in my family is recognizing God in nature. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes it says, "Remember your Creator." That small phrase stood out to me recently as we've been trying to enjoy nature more over the last year and during Covid-19/homeschooling. Being out in nature with my kids and intentionally helping them to see the connection between a beautiful cotton-candy colored sunset and their Creator seems to put everything into perspective. Nature calms and yet energizes, stimulates and satisfies.
I picked up some homeschooling material this year, being thrust into homeschooling as many have been, and one thing it mentioned is that homeschool moms should consider material that they also find interesting: I think the hope is that it will be easier to teach and could be enjoyable as you learn alongside the kids. For me, nature studies have been a good fit. We've studied types of trees by picking up leaves in our neighborhood and learned about the vast kinds of insects and mushrooms. Just diving into the beautiful complexities of nature has brought us all to admire our Creator more.
These are the ways I've found to connect my kids to God at their young ages. And in turn, I've found new connection with my God in watching them learn and admire His words and works.
