In my last post, I mused about what it means to raise kids who live by the life of Jesus. The notion stirs up a lot of mixed feelings within me, but I know, ultimately, that parents have a key role to play in helping to develop the faith of their children.
Just as I was thinking about it, Amanda goes and lives it.
And it all started with a fallen tree branch.
Amanda came home one day to discover that a tree branch had fallen onto the neighbor's driveway, blocking her car. At that moment, she felt the Lord's prompting to move it so that the neighbor could get out of her driveway without any trouble. But, Amanda also felt tired and had three kids to haul into the house.
As she's struggling with whether to go with the prompting or not, Ellis (our 5-year-old boy) says to Amanda, "Mom, I think we should move Miriam's tree branch for her." Astonished, and somewhat proud, Amanda says, "I think that's a good idea." So, Ellis goes over and drags the branch out of the way.
But then something happened that really touched me.
Amanda asked Ellis, "Do you remember the two commands that Jesus says are the most important?" Her and Ellis then go on to have a conversation about loving God and loving our neighbor, and how Ellis did both with that action. Amanda could have just said, "Nice job, buddy." But, instead, she took the time to talk about how his actions as a 5-year-old intersect with God's desire for us as humans.
Recently, I have spent some time reading Deuteronomy 6 after Jeff suggested it to me:
These are the commands, decrees, and laws the Lord your God directed me [Moses] to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children, and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give 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.
Is that not exactly what Amanda did? Is it not these small, beautiful moments that make all the difference, where we turn a nice moment into an eternal one?
It's helpful for me to see this lived out. Thinking about it, writing about it, can all make it more dramatic than it needs to be. But if I am awake and aware during the situations God puts in front of me, who knows what can happen?