Sabbatical Day 11- Unscheduled discipline

Holly and I have often been asked, by far more mature, and far more spiritual people than we are for parenting tips. This is always quite amusing to us because we find ourselves more often than not feeling like total failures as parents. We don't do family devotions every night, we don't make our kids go to every church function, and we don't quiz them on what they have been reading in scripture lately. Chaos more often then not prevails in the Grate household. Scheduled activities are often cancelled because of other scheduled activities that were scheduled after the scheduled activities were scheduled; The Artist thrives in this environment, which we both are, and is probably why our children thrive in the arts. When it comes to spirituality though, we are, wether we are disciplined or undisciplined, organized or unorganized, called to raise our children up in the way that they should go. So how do we do it?

It is often said that we are always a product of our environment. There were seasons during my childhood where my amazing parents and my two amazing sisters would do family devotions every night. If you asked me to tell you one of the lessons I learned from them, I wouldn't have a clue. However, when I asked my father repeatedly why I had to go sing at the nursing home, he had volumes of information for why. When Lillian Osborne Smith 's basement flooded, and he woke me on a school night to come and help a family in need, he had volumes of information as to why we were doing it. And when we put a roof on for free for a family in need...you get the picture. They were defining moments. Combined with the truth of scripture, that shaped me more than simply studying the bible. So I have carried on that tradition. I try, and sometimes fail, to structure the truth of scripture within the organic rhythm of Christian life. I have found that this is far more impacting on a child's life than just reading. There is a difference between being exposed to the truth and experiencing the truth. If Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and to love him with everything, what power does that have unless a child is given the opportunity to experience the truth in it?

One Sunday night Elijah sat and listened to me teach on Matthew 25. He was 9. He made paper airplanes the whole service. The following Saturday we sat up a food truck in Grand Rapids to help some folks out in their time of need. On the way I recapped the message, and then he got to experience it. He still talks about it...7 years later.