Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Spiritual Development


It is one of the 5 major developments (physical, emotional, intellectual, social) that gets over looked far too often in a child. This past weekend and week we have given it a good "shot in the arm" with Cavett.

We have taken off the months of July and August from singing in the choir so that we can sit together as a family in "big church." We actually made it through the entire service. Cavett opened his own hymnal and sang his own words and tune. He went up all by himself to the Children's Sermon which made me extremely nervous. He was well behaved, but I knew as soon as the preacher asked a question of the kids it was over--he would make long conversation and I was right. The preacher even commented on him being a "talker" and the congregation got a chuckle. He colored his kid bullitin and we counted how many times the preacher said "Paul" during the sermon. (We are studying Acts). As we were getting in the car Cavett said, "I had fun praising God today." Isn't that what it's all about? Having fun praising God!

This week he is atteneding Veggie Tales Camp at a Baptist church in Sugar Land. If you are unfamiliar with Veggie Tales, it is a cartoon that takes Bible stories and retells them using vegetables with a bit of a pop culture twist to the story. Strange, I know. Anyway, yesterday they evidently read the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I decided we should read the real story from the Bible for our bedtime story. He was engaged and focused the entire time. We talked about how God took care of them, because they didn't stop praising Him. When we said our prayers, Cavett even prayed for the trio!

This morning when Dad got Cavett out of bed, Stephen asked him about what he talked about at VT Camp yesterday. Cavett said, "Zack, Zachary and Abendego." Who cares if he can't remember the exact right names, the point is is that he is learning that God loves him and that no matter what happens we love Him right back.

What have you done to encourage spiritual development in your child today?

3 comments:

Susan said...

I commend you on making spiritual development a priority. It is not the easiest thing to do with a preschooler, but is so important. My husband puts Austin to bed at night and either reads him a story from his children's bible or does one of the daily devotions from his devotions for preschoolers book. It is a really special time and though he doesn't "get it" very often, we know he soon will.
I look forward to next year when he is old enough to go to a great camp or VBS like the one Cavett is attending.

Melissa said...

I agree... good for you! We have been trying to start with out little one frmo the beginging. We do a family prayer every night before we post our baby down.

Falcone Family said...

I made reference to this post as a means to respond to your thought-provoking post. check it out...
good one, jennifer!