Deuteronomy 6:20-25 “ When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?” then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case. If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.” This episode talks about how we can reach our children and live our faith in a way that they look at us and say, "I want what you have." Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Our Children
Deuteronomy 6:20-25 “ When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?” then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case. If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.”
This is something that has been on my heart a lot lately. This whole verse is about sharing our religion and the reason behind it with our children. I was much better about this when the kids were younger. When my kids were little they gave me a run for my money, but they were usually pretty well behaved at church. We would put veggie tales on for them when we would go on car rides. As they got older I feel we tried to share the faith with them but they didn’t want to hear it and we had so many other issues going on that we didn’t have the energy to fight about our faith. We did bring them to church every week and have them make their sacraments so I am glad about that. As they got older, brining them to church got more and more difficult. I would let them take books and the younger two would just read books the whole time. However, they weren’t old enough to leave at home and they would refuse to come if they couldn’t bring books. So, if I wanted to make it to church, this was how I was able to get there.
I talked about this in confession and the priest told me that at least they were there and that we aren’t in charge of making sure they get something out of it. We never know how much they are actually taking in, even if they are reading something else. He told me not to stress about it, just to hand it over to God in prayer. Which now that I am thinking of it is what we should always do when we feel stuck and something is weighing on us. However, we all need to be reminded of that every now and then. We brought our children to church every week until our boys were in 10th, 8th & 6th grade. Why did we stop? The pandemic happened. When everyone stopped going to church so did we. My husband, Tony and I watched church on TV, but we did not make the kids watch with us. Then when we started going again, we started going at 7 on Sunday morning. I wasn’t going to wake my kids up at 7 on a Sunday morning to go as they were staying up late at night.
So, here we are 2 years after churches opened back up and my kids aren’t going to church with us. I was talking with the priest on Friday because they had confession at the conference and he told me not to worry. He said confirmation is about the person making a decision on their own to become a member of the Catholic Church and it wasn’t something I needed to make them do. He did suggest we have more conversations about church. Instead of making the kids go, inviting them to go. Maybe going at a time they are more likely to be awake for and asking them if they want to come along. He said let them know the option for confirmation is still open and ask if they are interested. I know I am not the only mom out there that feels like I am failing in the area of passing our faith down to our children.
I liked this passage because it talked about how when our kids ask why they need to follow the commandments we should tell them about all God has done for us. That seems like a much better answer than because I said so, or because God said so. I think when we think about all that God has done for us, it makes it easier to want to follow His way. I love to hear stories about the signs and wonders in the Bible. When I read the Old Testament about how many amazing things God did for His people, it just reinforces how much He loves us. Then when we read about Jesus in the New Testament, it amazing. It truly amazes me how much God loves His people, how much He loves you and I. When I think about all that God asks us to do, it seems so small in comparison to all He has done for us. I know our children may not feel this way. They may not get it and I think that is ok. God gave them free will and so who are we to take that away from them. God knows that it is not true love if it is not freely given. We can force our children to go to mass, but we can’t force them to love God. Our job is not to convince our children of what is right, it is to point them in the right direction. Our job is to be a witness and an example of Christ to them. If we are doing our best to live like Christ, then hopefully when our children see us, they will see Christ.
One of the speakers at the conference this weekend said something I really liked. I don’t remember their exact words but the idea was that we should live our lives with such love and joy that people just look at us and say, “I want what you have.” Are you doing this? Are you living a life so filled with the Spirit that people say, “I want what you have?” I think sometimes we don’t go about living our faith with joy. For instance, I had a friend who told me that when she was younger she would fast one day a week. However, when she was fasting she would be so hungry that she would be grumpy with her family. This is not going to make anyone else want to fast. Whatever we do for God we should do with love and joy. If our children see us obeying the commandments, not because we have to, but because we want to, they may be more likely to follow in our footsteps. If they see that we are able to handle all life throws at us because we rely on God, they are more likely to want that. Our kids are more likely to listen to our actions than to our words. We don’t have to lecture them about how great God is and how important it is that they follow His ways. If we live in God’s ways and they see how much joy and love we are filled with, they will follow.
I have been hesitant to talk with my boys about God. I mean I bring it up wherever it can naturally fit into a conversation but that is about it. I am going to try to talk to them about it more intentionally. Maybe start with inviting them to mass once a month with going out to lunch afterwards. Or, maybe just inviting each week, even if they aren’t coming. I will pray for the Holy Spirit to show me any ways in which I could be more of an example to our boys. I will make sure when I am talking about God or our religion I am doing it in a way that shows my love and joy for all of it. Like this verse says, I will talk about how many amazing things God has done for us. How many signs and wonders He has done, not just back in the days when the Bible was written, but also in our family. Ultimately, it is God who will bring our children back to the faith. He loves our children more than we do and He will ensure they are taken care of. However, we can do our part by sharing our faith with them in the form of stories and with our actions.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to teach our children about your goodness. Help us to relay all the ways you have helped us in the past. Help us to tell our children about all the amazing signs and wonders you have given to your people. Lord, we know that when we spread those amazing stories people can’t help but believe because you are so amazing. You make impossible things happen and we are so very grateful. Lord, we entrust our children to you. We ask that you make up for all of our flaws and mistakes we made while raising them. We did the best we could Lord, we leave the rest up to you. We ask that if you want us to do more, then you have the Holy Spirit put that on our hearts. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day.