This morning I woke up before my kids – that NEVER happens – with a clear picture of what I needed to write about today. I was even up before my husband! I told Patrick, “God woke me up with something to write about!” – to which he laughed because he usually has to physically wake me up and make sure I’m out of bed before he leaves for school so it is assured our kids have awake parental supervision! Ever obedient here am I starting this thing at 5:30 AM! 2.5 hours before my normal wake up time! Divine Intervention, keep my babies sleeping so I can bang this blog out before nap time!
I admittedly am not a teacher, though it often lays heavy on my heart that I am responsible for the little minds I am helping to mold. At this point, I control what goes into them. In college my professor, Mr. Liss, taught his idea of “GI-GO” (pronounced guy-go) meaning “Good In, Good Out” this “Liss-ism” as he called it stuck with me and has become a life mantra. If you put “good” into your brain and body, you’ll get good out of your brain and body. While writing this post, I realized that we can also drop a couple of “O’s” and make this acronym mean “God In, God Out”. If you willingly put God into your brain and heart, then God will fill your mind and take over your heart 🙂
When it comes to teaching my children, I pretty much throw mud at the wall and see what sticks. Lately, I’ve been amazed at how much more seems to be sticking with my nearly 3-year-old, Beau. Some of it is good, like him remembering to say please and thank you and washing his hands after he uses the potty. Some of it, not so good, like his audible groan when asked to do something he doesn’t want to do (for the record, we didn’t mean to teach that one and continue to point out which parent he learned this from – it appears to have been an unmeaningly joint effort.) I’m not going it lie, it truly intimidated me when I became a parent that I would have to one day teach my kids about God. See, I’m also on this journey of learning more about God as well. I want to teach them right and I had it in my mind that if I didn’t have it all correct, how could I ever make them fully and rightly understand? Through my almost 3 years of parental experience I’ve realized that teaching my kids about God is more like watering a plant and watching it grow than actually really teaching. God totally has His hand in this and is doing ALL the hard work! I’ve also realized that its not at all as intimidating as I’d expected either!
At Christmas I put a plush manger scene in Beau’s room and went over the name of each person each night before bed. Baby Jesus caught on quick and was the only one that stuck! Mary continued to be “Mama” and Joseph continued to be “Dada” – no matter how many times we told him their real names. Hey, he got the most important one down pat – I was proud none the less! It made this Mama’s heart so joyful when in the car one day he yelled “Look Mama! Baby Jesus!” when passing a roadside manger scene. He still continues to ask where Baby Jesus went when passing by this road. Yes, we taught him who Baby Jesus was, but it was all God’s doing instilling in Beau the willingness to look for what we teach him! Watering the plant and watching it grow. God in, God out!
Last night before bed, we read our Look & Find Bible.
 
I was amazed at the amount that Beau remembered from the last time we read this book! We went through the story of Creation where he somehow got it in his head that the elephants are Mama, Dada and Beau – haha! He recognized that Samson was the one responsible for bringing down Dagon’s Temple. He of course could easily spot Baby Jesus in the manger scene and Mary is still Mama and Joseph is still Dada! Most special to me though was when we got to Easter and Ascension and Beau pointed to the sky saying “Bye-Bye Jesus”. Watering the plant and watching it grow. God in, God out!
 
Easter is fast approaching. I just dug out our favorite Easter books this week. It’s cute to read about the baby chicks and the bunny rabbits. It’s fun to read about egg hunts and candy. It’s meaningful to read the children’s Bible stories. My favorite of all of our Easter books though is “God Gave Us Easter”.
    
I remember first reading this book to Beau as an infant and learning that the Easter Egg actually signifies Jesus’ empty tomb! Well water the plant and watch ME grow! God in, God out! Who knew I could learn so much by teaching my babies!
I wish I had some great tutorial on how to teach your children about Jesus, but I don’t. My advice is to just keep talking to them about Him and He will do the work within their tiny hearts! It’s up to us as parents to let them know that this weekend is about more than chocolate and Easter Eggs. It’s about so much more than dressing up in our springtime best and visiting the Easter Bunny. Remind them that this holiday is about eternal life through Jesus’ death. They may not fully understand it now, but keep watering the plant and I promise you, God will make it grow! God in, God out!
Be Blessed + Be A Blessing
PS – As your can tell by the time I’m publishing this post, the kids woke up – haha!
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