It's a Lifestyle!

I have to admit, I'm still having trouble writing on this blog. I get caught up in wanting it to be relevant, beneficial and glorifying to God. I guess I wish that I was more enlightened than I am! Yes, it's ok to laugh at me. I certainly do!

Today, however, someone asked me a good question and as a former teacher and one who would totally go back to college tomorrow if it didn't cost so stinking much, I love a good question! I'd assume that if you're reading this that you're a friend of mine of Facebook. If you're not, then it's even more exciting that you're reading this! Anyway, months ago my sweet son Gavin came to me to do his morning "Bible-time," sat down and read it perfectly. I was so overcome with being impressed by his reading that I asked him if he'd do it again so that I could tape him. I posted it on Facebook and Youtube. (Insert humble admission here: yes, this began totally because I thought my kid was cute and I was proud of him. Anything spiritual came completely of God's had because mine was resting on my completely puffed up proud chest!) The next day he asked if he could do it again. He does like to show off when he is good at something... I guess a lot of us do that, huh? So, "The Word with Gavin" was born. We don't do it every day and I promised him that if he didn't want to do it, we wouldn't. The last thing I want is to make him start feeling negative about reading scripture! Here's a sample from today:

I've had a great deal of comments over the months about it from "I look forward to this everyday!" to "He is soo cute!" Today I got a wonderful and honest question that if I had to guess, I'd bet others might ask as well. It's a two part question and to keep this from getting too long, I'm just going to hit the first part in this post and will post again in a few days.

Do you and Gavin discuss the scripture he reads?

YES… but not the way you might think! We discuss scripture pretty much all the time around here and I just have to be honest about how that began and how it works. When Madeline was almost three I wanted to kill her... not the "dead" kind of killing but the kind of killing that most parents desire when their kids learn that they can talk, have thoughts of their own and really aren't sure how much independence they can really exert. Up to that point Madeline had been this delightful child that pretty much did whatever we told her to do. (Don't worry, Gavin evened everything out by exerting his independence from birth!) It was about that time that I was strolling through the bookstore at church and saw a book titled "Don't make me count to three." I literally laughed out loud and thought "I must count to three a hundred times a day!" As I began to walk out of the bookstore, I stopped... thought.... and went back to buy the book! It began a wonderful journey for Madeline and me. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is how it makes scripture relevant to our everyday lives and choices. Madeline and I learned together that when we had a problem and didn't know what to do that we could find the answer in scripture. The book talked about using God's word to correct children and encourage better decisions. When my three year old brought me my bible and asked "Mom, what does it say in here about whining?" I knew I had something and we've been relying on it every day since!

Now, back to the question and "The Word with Gavin." We do not always discuss the scripture each morning and we don't discuss it before he reads it. Gavin is very much a perfectionist... especially when he knows that people will be seeing him perform. He is much more likely to hang back and do nothing if he things he won't do it perfectly. In fact, one day he started crying because he mispronounced a word several times and kept asking me to start the taping over. It just broke my heart for so many reasons. The last thing I want is for him to think that reading the bible is this awful painful thing! The entire point of him having morning bible time was to teach him:

1) the discipline of taking time to think of God before starting your day

2) that God meant for him to read the bible himself and not rely on someone else to read it for him

So, I let him read it, we tape it and then discuss it later. There are days that we discuss it over breakfast, while other days we might get to it later in the day. There are even some occasions that we forget until some life circumstance brings up the need for that particular verse. For me it is not always about having this structured time that I sit and teach and they understand... though we do that also. It is more about Deuteronomy 6:5-9:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

It's a lifestyle, not an activity or a conversation. Wherever we are, sitting... walking... lying down... getting up... giggling... singing... playing... working... whatever we are doing, we are discussing!

Now, like I said, there was another part to that question and I do want to answer it and think it's totally valuable so check back as I'll get to it after I get this album designed! As my incredibly wise grandfather would say “work’s work” so I’m off to work. Have a great day!