Train up a child...

The Message translation of the Bible has an interesting take on Proverbs 22:6 - you know the whole "train your child" verse...

"Point your kids in the right direction—
when they're old they won't be lost."

For us, that means grounding them solidly in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's not just about going to church and Sunday school - but more than that - it's about a love for Jesus and wanting to live their lives for Him.

We do scriptures every night - and pray every night. Since starting Accountable Kids with Madeleine 2 weeks ago we're doing them with no excuses and no whining even...

We try to always kneel during prayer time - it doesn't matter if your hands are folded or arms crossed in our household - as long as you're being reverent. 

Tonight as Maddie and I were kneeling to say prayers after reading the scripture (or blessing is really what she calls it) I peeked at Wyatt who is always watching us - he kneeled down and put his head on the bed as we were praying and popped back up as soon as Maddie said Amen - and then added his own AMEN! It was cute and encouraging - that maybe all this hard work I've done to put these practices in place is starting to pay off and become routine.

I think of the future and the challenges that await for them as they venture out into the world and I want to hold them tight and keep them close. It's the daily scriptures and prayer - and the life lessons of accountability, honesty, integrity and all those other Christian morals and values we're trying to teach out kids - that I hope stay with them as they experience the world.

For now, it's a start that I hope stays with them a long time.

A daily blessing

I'm not sure when or why we got out of the habit of doing daily devotions, but tonight I saw our devotion book, Blessings Every Day, on the bookshelf and picked it up to read to Maddie and Wyatt before bed.

The entries are short and meaningful - just enough of a lesson to stick in their minds and hopefully in their hearts. Sometimes this little devotion is the only scripture I read during the day and I was reminded how much I need to be in the Word and that as a family we need to be covering ourselves in God's word and protection.

It never ceases to amaze me that I can open to a random day (the entries are dated for the days of the year) and feel that the little snippet is speaking directly to me. They are always timely and I know right now that I get much more out of them than Maddie and Wyatt do.

If you're looking for an easy devotional to do with your kids - I whole heartedly recommend this one. It was recommended to me by a mom in one of my online forums (several years ago) and I've shared it with my nieces and nephews as a Christmas present last year. My dear friend Becca also uses it with her boys for morning devotions and prayer time. 

I thought I would share the devotion from tonight - something that I really needed to be reminded of as I'm involved in so much at our church right now and feeling a little bogged down...

July 23

Do it for Jesus

I tell you the truth. Anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for me. Matthew 25:40 ICB

Jesus is God's Son. When he lived on earth, he showed people how to follow God. One of the things he taught is that we need to treat everyone the way we would treat him. If you saw Jesus sitting alone at a playground, you'd go talk to him. If you saw that Jesus was sad or scared or hurt, you'd try to help him. Jesus said we need to do the same for the people around us. Whenever we show love to one of God's people, we're showing love to God, too.

When I help a person who's scared or feels blue, 

It's just like I'm helping Jesus, too.

And one more that is really important to our family, not just because it happens to be Daddy's birthday!

December 18

A New Family

Beloved, now we are children of God. 1 John 3:2 NKJV

Something amazing happens when you love God and trust him. You become one of God's children. You also become part of a great big family of people all over the world. And members of God's family love each other no matter what. They stand up for each other, encourage each other, and help each other. How can you help another of God's children today?

The world is filled with sisters and brothers.

Since we're all God's children, we should help each other.

I'm going to make a point to do our devotions each night before bed - in fact I'm adding a "scriptures" card to Maddie's Accountable Kids chore board tonight to remind her and me. I'm going to write about AK soon - it's amazing and is already changing our little girl into an accountable kid!