Tea and Jesus

I decided yesterday that it was time to teach Sitora about "quiet time" with Jesus and her Bible. We have always read the Bible together, and we dance and pray and listen to worship music together, but I want her to start learning about seeking God for herself.

Someday soon she will come to the age of accountability when she can make the decision to follow Christ with her whole heart. So I want to equip her with the tools she needs to spend time with Jesus by herself. I don't want her to grow up following her parents' faith. I want her to own her faith. (I've started this by asking her at prayer time who Jesus brings to her mind that we should pray for.)

I also realized that she doesn't see me reading my Bible very often. This is because I do my devotions by myself in my room when all is quiet and the kids are sleeping. I can focus better that way. But I feel it's very important for her to see me as her mother seeking the Lord as well.

So we now enjoy "tea and quiet time" together. I set up tea with treats for us to munch on while we chat, then when we are finished we pull out our Bibles individually and read them quietly. Of course Sitora can't read yet, but she likes to flip through her Bible and look at the pictures.

The first time she did it she just flipped through the pages quickly then shouted, "All done!" I had barely started to read my chapter from Jeremiah! I laughed and then slowly began to explain to her what a quiet time is all about. I know a 3 1/2 year old can only handle so much, but I do try my best to give Sitora the benefit of the doubt and teach her things that might seem too difficult for toddlers to understand. Oftentimes she does grasp the concept and with further questions and answers, she slowly understands.

Today she chose to "read" the story of Sampson the strong man from the Old Testament. After she "looked it over" I asked her what she remembered from it. We talked about how Sampson served God with the power given to him (literally power- he was insanely strong!) to help others. I asked her how she could help others with the power God has given her. We discussed that she could pray for others, be kind, share her toys, and love others. I told her that the reason we read the Bible is not just to learn the stories from old, but to apply it to our lives today! There is always a lesson to be learned from the Scriptures.

We then prayed together about the story and how to apply it to her life.

Even though life may get busy and there are other things to attend to around the house, I never want to forsake this sacred time together to teach my children about loving Jesus!

I thought I'd leave you with one last darling picture.

This little guy makes my heart melt like an ice cream cone in July. How could you not with that smile? He is seriously such an easy baby. I could have 10 more kids at this rate ;)