Our Children will be Spiritually Hungry Today

image from arttimecollective.com

The desperate cries of these baby chicks waiting to be fed echo the silent pleas of our children for spiritual nourishment.  They ache for their souls to be satisfied with the “living water” and “bread of life” of Jesus, their Creator and Sustainer.  God has given us as parents the responsibility of tending to this need.  The way that we provide for their spiritual needs will determine whether their souls will thrive or be malnourished.

When we think about our day as a parent, we naturally think about what our children will have for breakfast, lunch and dinner unless it is provided for them at a childcare location.  In this new year, why not take time to think about your child’s spiritual meals.  What will be be on their spiritual menu today?  Will their soul be satisfied with Scripture at breakfast?  Will the concerns of their heart be addressed in prayer at lunch?  Will they have opportunity to lift their voices in praise at dinner?

If spiritual nourishment has not been a priority for your family up until now, using the example of our body’s need for physical sustenance is an easy way to introduce the concept of their souls need for spiritual sustenance.  Children will find it easier to understand the development of new mealtime habits that address their spiritual needs.  These spiritual meals don’t have to take long.  Start with just spending 5 minutes additional at a time to read a Scripture, sing a song of praise or pray together.  This year we were given a little desk calendar with a Psalm of the day on it.  You can pick one up at most grocery stores or book stores.  A child takes a turn each day to read the verse of the day.  A parent provides any explanation that is required, and it’s as simple as that.

Our children will be hungry today…what will we feed them?

What I couldn’t learn at boarding school

The face of motherhood is multi-faceted.  It changes from season to season, varies from woman to woman and situation to situation; but it seems that one thing we could all agree on is that motherhood is full of challenges both big and small.  Motherhood stretches us, many times beyond what we think we can cope.

Most of what we do as moms is difficult to outline.  We nurture, cheer, worry, walk alongside, not to mention the list of chores that go with it.  We spend much of the time wondering if we’re doing the right thing.  Oftentimes, we feel isolated and alone on this journey of parenting.  We are exhausted and worn down.

It can be easy to look at others and think that our mothering doesn’t really matter.  What progress are we making anyway?  What is so important about what we do?

As a child I spent a great deal of time separated from my family in boarding school.  It was the only school we had access to at the time, and my parents often lived in remote locations.  I learned a lot of things in boarding school.  We were taught how to read, memorize math facts, appreciate literature and to do some chores.   There were a lot of things that couldn’t be learned there though.

1.  We couldn’t learn to communicate effectively.   In programs and institutions we learn what is acceptable and unacceptable to talk about.  If what we have to contribute doesn’t fit the protocol then it is unwelcome and we just stuff it down.  Home is the place where we can let our children know that we are interested in the things that make them happy, sad, worried or afraid.  We can create an environment of safety and trust so that our children are free to be themselves, loved just as they are.

2.  We couldn’t learn how to function in a family.  Our families were scattered so the natural dynamics of having shared values, traditions and roles in relationship to one another were interrupted.   An institution could not replicate the same DNA as God gave the family.  Home is the place where we can give our children a foundation for life.  Making it a priority to be with our children communicates to them that we as parents are the ones responsible for giving them guidance and direction.

3.  We couldn’t learn  to resolve conflict in healthy ways.   We didn’t want to involve the adults around us in our squabbles so we just carried our resentments around with us.  The adults either seemed too busy or disinterested to bother with our petty problems, but unresolved hurts don’t just go away. They build up.  Home is the place where we can teach our children how to listen to each other, how to handle our anger and frustration.  It is where they can learn how to forgive as Jesus has forgiven them.  Forgiveness doesn’t come naturally to us though.  It takes engaged parents (not perfect parents) to take time to walk through the process of forgiveness over and over and over and over again.

4.  We couldn’t learn to seek the Lord.  Sure, there was Biblical instruction at boarding school, but seeking the Lord requires more than instruction.  At home we can take time with our children to show them what seeking God looks like.  We teach them how to talk with God, how to know who He is and take time to point out how He is working in our midst.

5.  We couldn’t learn our identity as a person created in God image.   God has created each of us with a desire to know what we were created for and to know what our purpose is.  In school we were just students, roommates and sometimes friends.  Home is the place for us to help our children understand that they have been “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  God blesses those who trust Him with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (1 Peter 1).  As parents we help our children to have confidence in God’s generosity toward them.

Although most of us will not be sending our children to boarding school, children are increasingly spending less time at home with their families.  This lack of time at home in the family is a developmental risk.  Many children today are not thriving, they are coping.  So when we’re wondering about whether our mothering matters, God has given us a role that no one else can replace.

Our children need us.  They need us to seek the Lord for them and with them.  When we don’t know how, we take time to learn because it matters.  Anyone can learn to seek the Lord.  Anyone can learn from other godly parents.  Will we be perfect?  We can count on the fact that we’ll mess up.  But our children desperately need us to persevere in parenting.  They need us not to give up.  God made us mothers, and He will give us what we need as we look to Him.