Infusing God into Everyday Life
Email 1
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Subject Line: Infusing God into Everyday Life, Part One
We meet again!
I’m excited about the video for this month’s Online Parenting Class which focuses on Infusing God into Everyday Life. “God sightings” are just one fun way to do this.
The best way to incorporate God into everyday life is, first and foremost, to model it for them. If you talk about God every day, your kids will hear and see that. If you live in awe of Him, they will too. This kind of routine talk involves talking about God and the things He created that your kids may not pay attention to—people, creation, music and animals, for example.
Say you are out on a walk with your kids, and you notice one of those fat black and furry orange caterpillars on the sidewalk, the kind that forms a cocoon and later bursts forth as a new creation—a monarch butterfly! Most parents would stop and point out the caterpillar, let their child pet it or even pick it up, maybe move it to the grass where it won’t get squished by the biker coming up behind you, and move on.
However, you would miss a profound opportunity to make this a “God sighting”! What if you took just one or two minutes to talk about the metamorphosis process—at their level? Start by talking about how beautiful God’s created things are—God planned every piece of fur on that amazing caterpillar! But don’t stop there! You could explain how the caterpillar is completely transformed into a new creature, and that this is what happens to people when they believe in Jesus. They become entirely new inside!
You don’t have to give a dissertation on the science behind a caterpillar’s metamorphosis. Simply bring God into the conversation! Looking for everyday things that can be used as God lessons will help your child to see God in the world around him or her. “God sightings” won’t be a once a week occurrence, but rather a natural way of living.
I’m so glad you are participating in these Online Parenting Classes! It is a joy to be part of your journey as a parent. Be encouraged! Striving to parent in today’s culture is not easy, but committing to learning parenting tools is one of the most productive things you can do in child-rearing. I’m here to be a cheerleader! Don’t hesitate to email me with any questions.
https://vimeo.com/parentministry/review/175386738/47b9b8d503
Serving Him together with you,
Children’s Pastor
Email 2
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Subject Line: Infusing God into Everyday Life, Part 2
So glad you joined me again!
We’ve been talking about how to incorporate God naturally into your everyday family life. You are your child’s most significant spiritual guide! Don’t miss opportunities to teach about God, without giving a five-minute sermon (that your kids will tune out to, anyway!)
Here are eight additional simple ways to bring Jesus into your child’s daily routine!
1. Pray with your kids before naps, in the car, at meals, and before bedtime.
2. Listen to Bible stories on CD while driving in the car.
3. Use conversation starters at mealtime that direct conversation toward spiritual things. There are numerous resources for conversation starters online.
4. Write the names of people you are praying for on Popsicle sticks and stick them in a jar by their bed. Pull one out before bedtime and pray with your child for that person. Put the Popsicle stick back in the can. The next time that person’s name is drawn, if the prayer has already been answered, thank God with your child.
5. When you need your children to clean up their mess, play a children’s Christian song and make it a game—try to finish cleaning up before the song ends!
6. If you have older children, purchase a God-centered non-fiction book to read together every day.
7. Watch a movie with your child with a spiritual theme; when it’s over, talk about it.
8. Pick a verse a week to memorize as a family.
Infusing God into everyday life involves purposeful parenting. You don’t have to change what you do day to day, but add God conversation, Scripture, and songs into your typical routine. It will make a difference in your child’s posture toward God!
Grateful for you,
Children’s Pastor
Video Script
How to Infuse God into Everyday Life
When it comes to spiritually leading your child, one of the first things you’re probably going to think about doing is taking them to church, and by the way, good decision. That’s a great place to go not only for your child to get closer to God and to learn about God’s word and to experience the fellowship of God’s people, that’s a great place for you to get that as well. I want to talk to you a bit about a mistake that we sometimes make. Sometimes we think that as long as we’re blocking out time in our family schedule to go to church we’re good when it comes to developing them spiritually and being that spiritual influence and voice in their lives as their parent. That’s not true. Just driving them to church and being a part of their life at church is not the complete picture.
Just to be honest, when we go to follow Christ we don’t just follow Him just a short of period of time during the week, right? We know this, I know you understand this. I want to give you some ideas on how you can make your relationship with Christ and following God something that you do in your everyday life. Here’s what you can do. I want you to have it in your head that you can infuse God and the things of God and God’s word into everyday life. Each day let’s start small, let’s try to find one moment that something happens in your family’s life where you can just mention out loud something of how that connects to God or God’s word. If you begin to think through those moments and really start to be strategic, you’ll see that church isn’t the only time you could talk and think about God, and actually everyday of life, God is very present.
How are you going to do this? Well, I would like to teach you a term that I call God sightings. When I was a young man I used to play hide and seek with my brother, and we would go through the house, and he would hide and I would walk through with my eyes wide open and huge because I knew he was about to jump out at me. That’s how I think you should walk through your day with your eyes wide open and huge, waiting for God to jump out, whether it be at sunrise or a sunset or a kind word from a stranger or somebody buying you a coffee in the coffee line or some way you see God moving in the world around you. Maybe a scripture that you read that just makes a lot of sense; it connects to your heart. Whatever it is, when you see a God sighting, that’s when you share with your child and with your family, and that’s how you infuse God into everyday life. You don’t just have to do it at church.
Texts/Tweets
TIP: Choose a hashtag for your tweets and use it consistently. That will tell Twitter to store a list of your tweets on one place for later reference.
Tweet One: Talk about God when you walk, sit and rise. – Deuteronomy 6:7 #purposefulparenting
Tweet Two: Everyday God sightings bring God into the everyday. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Three: Give God a good reputation; talk about God like He is your hero. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Four: The family that prays together stays together. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Five: Guard your home and keep it holy. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Six: Make God the cornerstone of your family’s life; He is the only firm foundation there is. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Seven: Children who read God’s Word with their parents and pray together are more likely to do the same as adults. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Eight: You are Christ’s ambassador to your children. – 2 Corinthians 5:20 #purposefulparenting
Tweet Nine: Bring God into everyday conversation. #purposefulparenting
Tweet Ten: The most meaningless things can turn into the most meaningful conversations about God. #purposefulparenting