Through the Eyes of a Child

With four small kids at home I find myself often feeling guilty for one thing or another. It could be that they don't brush their teeth every day or that some days we don't play outside because i'm just too tired (or is it lazy?). Some days it's because we eat cereal for dinner or that the TV is on all day. Lately I've really felt like my spiritual-training has been lacking with my kids. I find myself hurrying through bedtime prayers and then wonder why they don't feel like praying, or just do the "stock prayer." My girls ages 5 and 7 have been telling me lately that they don't know what to say to God and that He never answers them when they talk to Him. I always try to point out answered prayer but they are really looking for an audible voice right now. So I decided that my oldest daughter should have quiet time while I did my Bible study. A few minutes into it she was asking me questions about a story she didn't like. We read the story in its entirety from my Bible (hers is still abbreviated stories) and talked a lot about it (It happened to be Samson's story in Judges 12 and on). I even consulted a few of my Pastor-husband's resources to find out more information. Pretty soon Kenya asked if she could go play in her room and I said okay. When it was all over I found myself wanting to read on and get more information from the commentary I had consulted. My wheels were really turning and I suddenly thought, Wow! This is the best Bible study I've done in a long time! I learned so much more from going through the story slowly and carefully with my daughter and answering her many questions than the way I usually just hurry through my Bible reading without a whole lot of thought or contemplation. I'm sure I was probably more blessed from the whole thing than Kenya was. It was just such a refreshing way of reading and studying through the eyes of a child. I want to pursue more of these times like this with all my kids. But for now, I'm just doing the best I can.