Saturday, May 15, 2010

Strive for five

STRIVE FOR FIVE!!!!! If anyone is familiar with the beloved Wegmans of upstate New York, you undoubtedly have heard this phrase! Strive For Five is the grocery chain's logo that encourages shoppers to eat atleast five cups of fruits and vegetables a day, and thus buy more food from them! Let's take this phrase and use it for a goal to spend time sharing Christ with our children on a daily basis. This is a good starting point if you are a new believer or if you have fallen away for while also. What could be more important then our relationship with GOD and spending time getting to know him? We say nothing, ofcourse! But our actions often tell otherwise. It is also so important to share God's Word and pray with our Children, even at a young age. This is something that I have been trying to do. I read a little Biblestory to Mike this a.m. and then we prayed together. It was soooo precious to hear him pray and talk to God! Five minutes a day is not much time at all. Most preschooler's attention spans are about that long, so it's perfect. Let's think for a moment about what we spend 5 minutes of our day on... hmmm... for me.... tweezing my eyebrows (Only if your Italian like me would that take so long! Lol!), Watching the morning weather forcast, picking up toys in the playroom, checking my email, Staring at a room in my house and moving things around, Waiting on hold to make an appointment, putting on my makupe, chasing the dog around the house, who has once again stolen a dirty diaper out of the garbage or my underwear out of the laundry! I am sure I could go on forever but you get the point. None of these things are even close to being as important as spending time with the Lord and teaching my children to pray, seek God, and develop a relationship with him. But they all take up atleast five minutes of my time on a regular basis! How much time in your day are you devoting to God? If you have children, how much time are you devoting to nurturing their spiritual needs? Lets Strive for Five. Leave those dishes in the sink, skip your eyemakupe for one day, turn off the t.v., leave the toys for later. Grab your kids and share with them God's love for them. It will make a difference in their lives, and yours!

This is what we do.....

1. We talk about who we could pray for and decide who will pray for what, then we pray

2. I then pick out a Bible verse to read. We read it and talk about what it means and how we can apply it to our lives.

3. Then we usually will go over some memory verses that I keep on notecards in a little recipe box

PROJECT IDEA: PRAYER JAR

With your kids, put the names of everybody that you know on little peices of paper. You can even include the president, Christians in China, and the Mailman, whoever you want! Put them all in a cleaned out candle jar or some other sort of jar. When you have your meals, or during your devotion time let the children each pick out a name or two and add those people to your prayers! The kids will be so excited to pick a name and it will help encourage them to pray!

Hope this has been an encouragment to you! Have any other ideas or comments? Please Share!!!
Love,
Shannon

3 comments:

  1. GREAT ideas Shannon! I need to make this a part of my morning routine, I always have good intentions but don't always follow through. I am going to make it my goal this week to have a small devotional and make a jar full of names for the kids to pray for. I bet Tori will hope she gets Michael every day!

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  2. SUCH AN AWESOME IDEA! Thanks so much!

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  3. LOVE this idea Shannon! I love the prayer jar...that even works for adults! I, too, have been trying to Becca to spiritual things. She looks at me with a blank stare when we talk about it. Is she too young to get it? When does it click in where they know what you're talking about? I think I need a bit of guidance as to how to get the ball rolling. Could you give me some advice as for how you started with your kids? Any success?

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