Teaching Your Children about God
Rebecca Chamaa rchamaa@earthlink.net

Taking a child to Sunday school every week is not enough to help them build a strong Christian foundation. If your child only learns about God for one hour a week, and spends the rest of his or her time learning other things, either in school, from friends, or from family, the hour spent in Sunday school will be drowned out by the other influences in their lives. If you are like most parents you would like to be assured that your child will have a better understanding of God than you did at a younger age, in order to prepare them to avoid some of the same mistakes you made. There are many things as a parent you can do to help your child build a strong relationship to God and to give them a solid Christian foundation.

Talk with your child. This may sound like a silly or even simple thing, but the importance of it can not be stressed enough. After you pick your child up from Sunday school, ask them what they learned. Ask them what the lesson or the story of the day meant to them, and what they think of it. Ask them how this story or lesson relates to their life. Get your child to think about God. The more your child thinks about God, the more likely that when a real life issue, such as lying, cheating, or problems with friends, comes up they will be able to recall the lessons they have learned and turn to God for support, guidance, structure.

Another way to teach your child about God by talking is to help them with problems or difficulties by referring to God. If your child has a problem with another child at school, walk them through a prayer to God about the situation. This will teach your Child to go to God for all situations that come up in their daily lives. Remember that children do not have the same ability for abstract thinking that adults do, and you will need to model many of the things you hope to teach them. For instance a child may or may not be able to relate a lesson learned in Sunday school to their own lives. You may have to "show" them how to use the lesson in their daily lives.

Another way of modeling behavior that you wish to impart to your child is by talking them through some of the simple problems you have. Let your child see you go to God for things. It is my recommendation that you only use this for fairly simple problems in your daily life, as you do not want to frighten your child, or give them feelings of insecurity by revealing too many of the problems you as a parent are having.

If you are like most parents, you have a prayer time set aside, either at bedtime or meal time, which can help your child to make a habit of prayer. This is a great practice, but a couple of things that can make it even better are to have your child tell God what they are thankful for, making them think more about their relationship to God and what they are saying, and to read a verse of scripture. Even if your child doesn’t completely understand scripture, it can be helpful to encourage them to memorize verses to present at prayer time. In later years, the Holy Spirit can bring these memorized scriptures to mind for comfort and peace. I recommend having your child learn some of God’s promises first. For example Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Another example you could use is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

As was mentioned earlier, it is important to model behavior for your child and talk to your child about God. Use every day situations to teach your child how to depend on God, how to be in relationship with God, and use every opportunity to teach real life lessons about the destructiveness of envy, greed, pride, etc. May God bless you and your children and may your children grow up to have a rich and mature relationship to our savior Jesus Christ.

The Old Grandfather's Table
Submitted by F. Bills

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table.

But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for Papa and Mama to eat their food in when I grow up."

The four-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

Children are remarkably perceptive. Their eyes ever observe, their ears ever listen, and their minds ever process the messages they absorb. If they see us patiently provide a happy home atmosphere for family members, they will imitate that attitude for the rest of their lives. The wise parent realizes that every day the building blocks are being laid for the child's future.

Let's be wise builders.

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