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When I became a mother to my first daughter I remember that sense of great responsibility fall on my shoulders like a rock almost burying me under it. I remember feeding her and praying over her while slightly rocking in the chair at the same time, if it was only the top of the multitasking record... It was then when I realised what a saying “faith nurtured with the mother’s milk” really meant. It was literally the most quiet, almost private, time of the day when I could connect with the father in prayer before falling back into the harsh reality as my restless child would not stop screaming. It was the time of nurture not only for the body but most importantly for the spirit, for both of us.
Often as I prayed I felt an urgency to intercede over my children to grow up strong and courageous, to never bow down to this world even in the times of persecution. Now as a mother of two, I feel even greater responsibility for my family and the future generation that will inherit the faith from us, from me as a mother. It is very easy to get caught up with the daily routine of changing diapers, feeding babies, cleaning the kitchen and picking up gazillion of cheerios and pieces of legos off the floor and forget about the greater responsibility that we have as parents.
There is something more than just making sure our kids eat and take a nap to grow up physically healthy. I believe that as parents we carry a great responsibility of making sure our kids grow up spiritually strong and healthy and walk into their calling. I want to be the one to usher my kids into God’s presence, to introduce them to the real God and show them real faith.
There are three important things that we do with kids that are just the basic necessities of our lives. We pray together, read the Word and worship. I think it is absolutely a must to teach our children these things; it is our responsibility to do so, not the responsibility of the church or a Sunday School teacher.
As much as we love to pray in the “prayer closet,” the truth is there is no more “privacy” and “silence” in motherhood and we just need to go with the verse that says “pray continually” (Joshua 24:15). Pray in your silent moment, pray in the car, pray in your mind, pray in the kitchen and pray in front of your children. Kids have to see and hear us praying! I pray loud when I am with kids on purpose, and the purpose is to show them that prayer is a constant conversation with our heavenly father. Don’t just pray with kids before bed, use every opportunity. They will ask questions and interrupt you but soon they will get used to it, and when you get in the car and turn on your favorite worship song, they will remind you to pray, because you did so yesterday and they already know what you need to do; yes, they’re smart like that. Show them an example of the mother who prays.
Worship with your kids at home. Kids need to learn to worship God in freedom, and where else is better freedom than at home? We turn on our favorite worship songs and twirl and swirl around the room, jumping and dancing and praising Jesus with all our strength. I want to be the one to introduce my kids to God’s presence and it’s a sweet sweet feeling to be filled with the His presence while singing and praying together. I love when we walk into our house and my little baby points at the TV and demands “Alulua” (Hallelujah) to be turned on immediately, and then she raises her arms waiting to be picked up and praise Jesus with mama.
Read the Bible with kids daily. What else can build the spirit of our kids better than the Word of God? Every night we jump on our bed, turn on the little light and open the book together. We need to live by the Word of God in every season of our lives and our kids need to know the Word and love it. Don’t punish your kids by cutting off the reading time, and don’t hurry to make them do everything else and then not have enough time with you and God. We should not rub our kids of their blessing.
The bible says “start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” Proverbs 22:6). There are many things we need to teach our kids but prayer, worship and reading the Word are three priorities to reach the goal of serving the Lord with our household (1 Thessalonians 5:17).