A Child's Spiritual Awakening

Welcome back, mommies! May I just ask...how do they know? How does my son know that I have just sat down at the computer to write? He should still be miles away in dream land, but I hear him stirring. They have a sixth sense. I imagine that his little brain thinks, oh, is mom doing something that requires peace and solitude? Sweet! I will start singing the "Thomas" theme song into the monitor to soothe her while she types. She'll love that :-) Our sweet darlings. Life would be way too quiet without them...

I wanted to share a precious experience that God allowed me to have with our son, yesterday. I have a cross wall where I hang crosses that are meaningful to us, either because they were given to us or because I bought them during a special time of our lives. After breakfast, Caleb was too quiet. I went searching for him and found him half way up the stairs. I asked what he was doing, and he clearly said, "I need to see Jesus!" He pointed to the top of the stairs, directly at the cross wall. After I regained my composure, I followed him up the stairs, and watched as he said "Hi" to the different crosses, and sweetly said, "Bye-bye, Jesus" before he tottled off to his room to play. Fast-forward a few hours to us at the Christian book store. We walked by this picture:

I was chit-chatting with Caleb, and I casually asked him who this was. He simply said, "Jesus, momma."

God encouraged me yesterday, and I want to encourage you. Every bit of spiritual teaching that you speak, show, and pray over your child is taking root. We put it out there, and God does the rest. If our little 19-month-old can make the connection between Jesus and a cross, and if he can recognize a painting of Jesus, then we can be confident that our parenting is being blessed by our heavenly Father. It's never too early to start teaching our children the foundations of our faith. Apparently pictures, symbols, and Jesus is a great place to start!

Because of these two encounters, you may think that we drill our beliefs into Caleb, night and day. That's simply not true. At this age, we teach him about Jesus mostly by modeling prayer and reading books. We are also blessed with a great nursery staff at church who affirm our teaching on Sundays. But, I truly believe that the spiritual connections Caleb has made have come from the Lord. His daddy and I do our best, but we are far from perfect examples. Yesterday, in these sweet experiences, God reminded me that Caleb is a unique spiritual child of His, and that Caleb and Jesus have a relationship that is just between the two of them. I am involved because I am Caleb's mother, but ultimately, the Lord carries my child in the palm of His hand. Just as you and I experience spiritual revelations and deeper understandings of God and who He is, our children will have their own experiences and revelations along the way...apparently beginning in toddlerhood.

Be on the look out for the spiritual development of your children. It is precious beyond words. Today, and everyday, be blessed! (Check out the links below!)

Click Here for Pinteresting Project #7!
Click Here for Organizational Tip #52!
Click Here for MMSM #68!