From the Jan. 14, 2022 Partnering with Parents Communication
The best way to incorporate God into everyday life is, first and foremost, to model it for your children. If you talk about God every day, your kids will hear and see that. If you live in awe of Him, they will too. This kind of routine talk involves talking about God and the things He created that your kids may not pay attention to—people, creation, music and animals, for example.
Say you are out on a walk with your kids, and you notice one of those fat black and furry orange caterpillars on the sidewalk, the kind that forms a cocoon and later bursts forth as a new creation—a butterfly! Most parents would stop and point out the caterpillar, let their child pet it and even pick it up, maybe move it to the grass where it won’t get squished by the biker coming up behind you, and move on.
However, if this is all you do, you would miss a profound opportunity to make this a “God sighting!” What if you took just one or two minutes to talk about the metamorphosis process—at their level? Start by talking about how beautiful God’s created things are—God planned every piece of fur on that amazing caterpillar! But don’t stop there! You could explain how the caterpillar is completely transformed into a new creature, and that this is what happens to people when they believe in Jesus. They become entirely new inside!
You don’t have to give a dissertation on the science behind the caterpillar’s metamorphosis. Simply bring God into the conversation! Looking for everyday things that can be used as God lessons will help your child to see God in the world around him or her. “God sightings,” then, won’t be a once-a-week occurrence, but rather a natural way of living.
We’re so glad you are participating in these Partnering with Parents articles and videos! It is a joy to be part of your journey as a parent. Be encouraged! Striving to parent in today’s culture is not easy, but committing to learning parenting tools is one of the most productive things you can do when raising children.