When I meet someone who left the church during their teens and early twenties, I often ask what their parents could have done that might have kept them from leaving. Surprisingly, almost everyone mentions they wish they had seen that their parents’ faith made a difference in their lives in some way. The sad thing is those parents would probably be able to share multiple ways God touched their lives over the years. Yet, they never shared this with their kids. As a result, their children thought serving God was a waste of time.
The good news is everyone loves a good story – even your teens. You probably already tell stories from your family or about things that happened when you were the same age as your children. Whether you realize it or not, often those stories are great teaching tools. Jesus knew stories were effective ways to get across a point. That’s what the parables Jesus told did for the people. It helped them lower their defenses and hear important wisdom in ways they could easily understand and remember.
Giving your kids the gift of your personal faith stories is so very important. Those stories help them see God and understand how He continues to work in the lives of His people. You don’t have to have stories as awe inspiring as Moses to reach your kids. Often, our every day faith stories are just as inspiring and helpful in their own ways.
So what types of personal faith stories can you tell your children? There are probably many, but begin by thinking about times these things happened in your life:
Continue reading Telling Personal Faith Stories to Your Kids
Have you ever seen a celebrity apologize for something horrible? Sometimes they look more like a five year old being forced to apologize to a sibling! Or have you ever experienced someone who “apologizes” by saying “I’m sorry if I did anything that made you mad.”? Really? Apologies are meant to begin repairing relationships, but most apologies do more harm to the relationship than good.
Recently in Colonial Williamsburg, I was reminded that life for our children is very different from the life led by children in the Revolutionary War period in the United States. I found a great little book with George Washington’s instructions on manners – actually some of the Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation he had copied as part of his schoolwork (The rules were already 150 years old at that point.). It’s interesting to read, but something becomes clear very quickly. Children were expected to behave like little ladies and gentleman.
If your children can speak, you probably realize they consider you and anyone else close to your age “old”. I laugh now, because I will talk to friends from home and they will mention someone is “getting older”. In my memory, that person had to be at least in their 60’s or 70’s when I was a child. Inevitably, I will ask “What?! Isn’t she over 100 by now?” Usually, I realize the “old” person had actually been only in their 30’s or 40’s when I was little!