God Ready Moments
As parents, our job cannot be underestimated. We share Bible stories, teach kids to worship and pray, and build a community for our kids to be loved and love one another. We set environments, give opportunities, and invite the presence of the Lord to fill our homes and churches for children to experience Him.
Obviously, this is what we SHOULD do. Exposing our children to the things of the Lord, modeling a commitment to Christ, and normalizing a real relationship with God in everyday life is crucial to the development of children spiritually. Will we do it perfectly? Absolutely not. However, most of us get the idea that we need to tell our kids about Jesus.
But there is another layer, and a grand question I pose to anyone, anywhere who has been entrusted with a child…
How do we get kids to have their faith become personal to them?
How do we take what is head knowledge and transfer it to the heart?
How do we bridge that gap between compliance of the faith of my parents and commitment to a faith of my own?
This is a question that I am exploring and seeking to find answers to. I am not content with setting programs, practices, systems, rituals, and curriculum in place if my kids do not meet God personally. Kids need to taste and see that the Lord is good. They need to experience His presence.
A phrase popped out at me in my Bible reading in Psalm 53, the Message version, which sometimes have an interesting way of shedding light on things-
“He’s looking for someone not stupid- one man even, God-expectant, just one God-ready woman.”
God-expectant, God-ready.
This is my prayer for my children. In this season of expectancy, of great anticipation, I want my children to be expecting something amazing. I want them to be ready to receive all that God is revealing to their hearts. As a parent, I am on the lookout for God-ready moments.
Moments where a child is seeking.
Moments that change trajectory.
Moments that a child questions.
And more often than not, those moments will come in the ordinary, day to day of family life.
Parents, we have the privilege and honor of speaking into and loving into those moments. Moments that may seem like no big deal- but are game changers. It may come as a simple question, an invitation, a story, a hurt, or something unexpected that happens while ordinary life runs its course. Mary, Joseph, and even the shepherds were just doing something completely ordinary, their normal routine, and their life was completely interrupted by the ultimate God-ready moment.
So back to our questions…
How do we get kids to have their faith become personal to them?
How do we take what is head knowledge and transfer it to the heart?
How do we bridge that gap between compliance of the faith of my parents and commitment to a faith of my own?
Well, this is a process that takes a long time to really see the transformation.
But let’s remember and take comfort in the fact that it all starts with a God-ready moment.
Be praying for one today.
