Caught not taught

Last week at the park with my family, I noticed a man sitting not too far from us on the grass, cross-legged and staring down. It looked like he was meditating. Seizing the opportunity, I leaned over to my 5 yr old son and asked if he thought that man was talking to God. Tanner looked over at the man and instantly responded; “No mommy, he’s just texting”. I laughed and told him that he was probably right.

Driving home, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. Not the image of the man meditating, but that of my sons face. He was so certain the man was texting, not praying. I got a little sad realizing his certainty came from seeing mommy, daddy and people all around preoccupied with their black berries and iPhones, distant from the ones around them. How I wish our children would see us praying as often as they see us checking our phones.

Our children’s pastor, Billy, quoted this in a meeting not long ago; “Christianity is more caught than taught”. It’s so true. I can try to talk to my children about the importance of prayer and devotions, but if they don’t see me doing it, it’s wasted effort. We are called to be followers of Christ, teachers yes, but first and foremost followers and disciples. It’s our relationship to God that makes us effective and authentic, trustworthy and real to our children and others. Little ones need to SEE us praying, praising and working things out with God so they have an understanding of what we are talking about when we say; "let's now pray for this". Have you ever tried to teach your children the principle of obedience and submission to authority only to get totally convicted that you are not obeying God (or your husband) yourself? I have.

How can we parent unless we allow God to be our parent? How can we be mothers unless we have first been daughters to God? Rules and regulations without relationship produce rebellion, not only in our children but in us too.

 Jesus warned his followers in regards to the teachers of that day.

“The scribes and the Pharisee's sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.” Matt.23:1-3 (Eng. Standard)

So if your interaction with your children is starting to become just preaching and the barking out of orders, stop everything and go back to basics. Go back to focusing on being a daughter to your heavenly Father. Crawl up in His lap every morning and let Him love on you for a while before the kids get up. Then give that overflow away to your family when they wake up, it truly works because God is the perfect parent who knows how to love us. He will grant you the grace sufficient for that day. Then your Christianity will be caught by your children rather than taught.

“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”Is.58:11

I challenge you to try this even more so because of the holiday frenzy that’s upon us. The harder the workload and pressure of the day, the more time we need to take with God before we start out the day. He is faithful to center us again, and again, and again as many times as we need. And He will do it with joy and perfect love.