Passing On the Faith

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7 NIV)

The recent heat wave triggered a favorite childhood memory. Growing up in South Florida we had many heat waves where it was just too hot to go outside. My mom would get out a huge jigsaw puzzle and over the next several days, little by little, we would put it together. I have fond memories of sitting at the table with my mom or a brother or sister working on different parts of the puzzle and just talking.

So a couple of days ago, I bought a 1000 piece puzzle and got it started. As I suspected, it drew family members like a magnet and one or more people would be working on it at any given time. Then Cecelia came over and was immediately drawn to it. The puzzle is too difficult for her to do by herself, but if I give her several pieces that probably will go together, she can enjoy a few successess.

Yesterday afternoon, Cecelia and I were working on this puzzle and she began softly singing one of the songs we sang in church that day. It occurred to me that she probably didn't know the song "Jesus Loves Me" and I took the opportunity to teach it to her. She wanted to sing it over and over again until she knew it, and then she surprised me further by asking, "Kaymee, can we pray now?"

She wanted me to do the praying, but when I finished she said, "Now will you help me say a prayer?" She didn't need much help. Her prayer was simple and beautiful and it was about all the things she was thankful for... including the puzzle.

I learned "Jesus Loves Me" in Sunday school as a small child. And I remember when we still opened the school day in regular school with prayer. These days, children aren't taught to pray in public schools and Sunday school has changed a lot and kids don't always have thee opportunity to learn the songs we did. These aren't necessarily bad things... life is just different these days.

We can turn it into something very good, though. We can take back the responsibility for teaching our children and grandchildren about Jesus. It was such a joy to teach Cecelia how to pray and how to sing "Jesus Loves Me." I'm kind of glad she didn't learn it somewhere else.

We have gotten too dependant on the church teaching our kids. It was never meant to be that way. It is our responsibility to pass on our faith. The church is there to support us in our efforts but not to take over completely. Do your kids and grandkids know the simple bible stories? Do they know how to tell God "thank you?" Do they know your favorite kid songs about Jesus?

Don't wait for them to learn it in Sunday school. Teach them yourself. It will bring you so much joy!

Father,
Thank you for puzzles and the opportunity to pass on a family passtime as well as passing on my faith. Amen.

Joys: jigsaw puzzles; wedding showers; teaching my granddaughter to pray