How Do I Teach My Kids About Experiencing God?
Inviting our children to notice the presence of God
It was early evening when my seven-year-old looked at my husband over dinner, sharing about his day.
“Dad, mom taught us these weird prayers today.”
“Oh really!” my husband replied, “What were they?”
My son sort of rolled his eyes, while holding a smirk on his face,
“We had to breathe in saying, ‘Jesus’ and breathe out saying, ‘You love me.’”
I smiled to myself as I heard this conversation between the two of them. On a simple evening, sharing a meal, laughing together, recounting a day—God was deepening seeds of His truth in my childrens’ hearts.
As parents, so much of the time we’re just trying to get through the day—keep the kids alive, not be too late to the school play practice, cook something somewhat healthy for dinner, listen to teenage drama, and get everyone to sleep before midnight. Parenting is real, everyday, hard work. I truly believe it is some of the hardest work we will ever have to do in our lives this side of Heaven.
We’re exhausted by waiting up for late-arriving teens and waking up early for newborn feedings.
We are confused by the media culture and how to steward our children to be kind in a world so full of hate.
We are tired of answering the same question of “Why?” from our three-year-old because we’re asking our own deeply-rooted questions to God of the same word.
How do we live in such a busy world and have the time and space to steward our children's spiritual lives?
You are not doing it wrong, dear parent.
Take a breath.
You are doing a great job.
Receive that.
Wether you’re a single parent balancing both parental roles, grandparents loving on adult children and grandchildren, a mentor that regularly cares for children, or a new parent struggling to even shower—there is so much grace for you. The parental role you play is so important in the lives that look up to you, the foreheads you kiss at night, and the voice on the other end of the phone call.
God is not asking you to be the Holy Spirit in your kids’ lives. He’s giving you a treasure to tenderly care for and steward to hear His voice in the world.
So, how do we teach our children to notice the movements of God in their lives?
Well, first, we have to be the example of what we are stewarding our children towards. Our children, learn by what is being modeled for them—they copy our speech, our body language, our eye movement, our habits, and our way of engaging with the world. They mimic the way we respond to others and how we view those that are different from us.
Our children will notice how we experience God.
However, we don’t engage God with one eye open—hoping that our kids notice and then will turn around and do likewise. Children have a keen eye for authenticity and they will often know when they’re trying to be fooled. Children are real human beings and value authenticity.
So here’s what we need to do, dear parents—live a life in relationship with God, solely for the purpose to be loved by Him. Then we live out of that love as we engage with others. That is what we invite our children into.
We allow ourselves to be vulnerably held in the arms of our Father, trusting that if He holds the whole world in His hands, He’s surely holding us and our children.
Our kids will see that.
Our kids will feel the outflow of that.
Our kids need to be invited into that.
In a world full of so much confusion, hate, consumerism, and pain—what a gift it would be to our children to invite them to notice the presence of God’s love weaved throughout.
There is no magic formula, no two-step check box, or how-to guide—may we just live our lives in relationship with Jesus and continually invite our children into the depths of God with us.
Invite them to pray in a different way.
Invite them to live slower than culture says they should.
Invite them to notice the subtitles of God’s design in a humming bird’s wings.
Invite them to listen to the whispers of God’s love for them on their hardest days.
Invite them to ask their hard questions about why God lets horrible things happen in the world.
Invite them into a space where they have the freedom to say, “I’m not sure what I believe.”
Invite them to see our own human flaws and theirs—while holding that we’re all still so deeply loved.
We do not add or take away from God’s purpose, plan, or design in the lives of our children. We get the honor of bearing witness to the beautiful story God is writing for them—however painful and joy-filled that journey may be.
May we hold space today for ourselves and our children to be drawn into the presence of Jesus.
May we speak truth into the lives that God has given us to steward and love.
May we hold kindness for ourselves when we mess up and seek forgiveness in honesty.
May we remember that we are not God in our children's lives and He is.
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Loved this post, as I often wonder how to incoporate contemplative prayer with my own kids. We do a lot of breathing exercises and you've inspired me to try to link it more directly with God's love for them.