Teaching your children God's Word

We all want our children to grow up in the knowledge of God, and to know God's Word as much as possible.  As mothers we have the opportunity to saturate their hearts with His Word day in and day out.  For me though, it has taken a little effort to establish some routines and rhythms that move toward this.

Deuteronomy 6 gives us some ideas for how to do this!

4Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^a 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children... 

 First, we need to make sure we are attempting to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, and keeping His commandment on our own hearts.  Out of the overflow of our hearts, we will be able to teach our kids. To remind myself about God's truth I have tried different things over the years, including printing out verses and taping them up in various places around the house where I will be sure to look -- like the bathroom mirror, my nightstand, or even the refrigerator! (Yes, I look at that a lot.)  Even just reading the verses aloud as you notice them can begin to get the word in your heart, and your babies' hearts.

Talk about them when you sit at home...

Intentional Bible memorization and meditation can begin pretty early on in a child's life.  As soon as my oldest began to talk I came up with a list of my favorite verses that I wanted him to memorize. Then I stuck it on the side of the fridge (that fridge again -- the heart of our home!).  Slowly we began to work down the list, and years later, I still refer to it with my younger children as well.

 and when you walk along the road...

Going for walks, or going for drives to run errands are great times for reviewing God's word.  Since the activities are rather mindless, it can become a good time for meditation as well, repeating the same phrases over and over.  (And what toddler doesn't love to do that?!)   Driving in the car would also be ideal for listening to verses set to music on CD (or iTunes).... but our van never had a working CD player, so we had to resort to reciting or singing ourselves.

 when you lie down.... 

Most nights, by the time bedtime rolls around I am ready to just plop everyone in their beds and turn out the lights. (I have always been amazed by parents who have the long bedtime routine!)  However, I do like to take the time to at least pray over the kids, and possibly sing a song or two.  This is a great time to work in God's Word as well.  This past year I put up some "bedtime" scriptures on the walls above the kids' beds, and then would read them each night as I prayed for them.  The repetition helped all of us memorize the verses, without even really trying!

Here is one of our favorites:

and when you get up....

 Just as I am not a "bedtime routine person," I am also not particularly a "morning person," -- my poor family.  Still, it is nice to have at least one thought or verse to repeat as part of an initial greeting of the day.  Something like this, perhaps:

 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads...

Now this part of Deuteronomy 6 gets a little interesting!  While I have never followed this literally, I can see the benefit of physically needing God's Word on or around our bodies.  If we don't keep Him before our eyes, there are plenty of other things in this world that our eyes will stay trained upon!

Creative adaptation is in order here.  One habit I know a few of my friends do is to write a particular key word from their morning Bible reading on their hand, so they will glance down and see it each day.  Or maybe you could write the key word on the forehead of your child, where you will be sure to see it all day.  :)

9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates...

Again, some creativity may be in order here.  Jews in the past took this quite literally and made little mezuzah (meaning door) boxes that they attached to the doorframes.  These had God's commandments written inside them.  We have tried to modify this concept over the years.  Inside the foyer of our home we have a wooden box where there are various little verses.  When we think of it (which isn't very often, I'm afraid!), we encourage visitors to take a verse as they're leaving, as a blessing.  

Today, of course, there are all kinds of beautiful pieces of art that incorporate God's Word, and that is another way to keep the Truth central in your home.

The gist of Deuteronomy 6 seems to be that we should have God's Word in and around us as much as possible, talking about it as much as possible, and learning to love Him as much as possible.  Adding in a few of these routines can help to work toward those goals!

(If anyone would like the lists of verses we use in our home/patterns, feel free to contact me and I can share them with you!)