31 days of blessing kids with bold faith

“Our kids can’t be what they can’t see.”

{Melinda} My pastor gave this bold charge to all of us parents in the audience.

He went on to say this: “If we want our kids to grow up to be men and women of bold faith, they have to see it lived out daily.”

Whew, that’s a lot of pressure. I squirmed a bit in my seat.

My teenage daughter, who was sitting next to me, elbowed me. “He’s right, you know,” she whispered.

Leave it to a teenager to call you out.

Since the time my kids were little, I’ve never had any trouble telling them about Jesus. But I haven’t always lived it out in a way that’s passionate and compelling.

For too many years, I was content with a nice, safe, comfortable brand of Christianity. As a people-pleaser, I didn’t like to make waves.

As my kids hit the preteen and teen years, they weren’t impressed with my cushy faith. They wanted and needed to see it in action. Or, else, what was the point?

Without even knowing it, they held up an unforgiving mirror to this image-conscious, complacent, people-pleasing mom and dared me to get real.

I had to dig deep and decide to stop living a soft, comfortable brand of faith.

{Kathy} I’ve experienced the same challenges in my home with my growing family. I must be making some headway because recently one of my teenagers told me, “You and Dad have a Jesus problem. You talk about Him all the time!”

Yes, sweetheart, we do! Can I get an “Amen”?

When they were little, it was easy for me to sing “Jesus Loves Me” with them. It became far more difficult to talk faith when they got older and didn’t really want to hear so much about Jesus.

What I shared so easily when they were little suddenly made me feel squirrelly and vulnerable. I feared rejection from my own children.

Hard to admit, but true.

But our world is far too dark to not share the hope we have in Jesus! Our kids need to see the relevance of our faith. A spark isn’t going to cut it. We need to shine a bright light in the darkness.

We’re going to write about this over the next 31 Days. Each day, we’ll be giving activities and challenges to do with our children. Our goal is that we go through this together, all of us encouraging one another to step boldly out in our childrens’ lives –showing them our faith and commitment to Christ.

Sometimes it may seem that the daily activities are very, very simple. Others will be more challenging and controversial.

But it’s time to flip the switch, mamas.

Our kids — and our world — need the Light.

Melinda & Kathy