Josiah Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Life in Lape Haven

Several years ago, I began leading the children’s ministry at the church where my hubby and I attended at the time. We were in a small church, so I usually only had a handful of students. However, no matter the size of my class, it was important to me to give them all a solid foundation in the Word and a realization that God not only wanted a real and personal relationship with them right now, but He could also use them no matter their age and had great plans for their futures as well.

Part of instilling that message was the “Vision Verse” that God gave me for the children’s ministry, which was Daniel 11:32b: “The people who know their God will be strong and take action.”

For the first month or so after I started teaching them, we learned this verse, complete with motions (kids always learn stuff better with movement), and we talked about what it meant.

Lately I’ve been thinking about that verse again, and how it’s the same vision my husband and I have for our own children now. Over the next few weeks, I plan to introduce this vision verse to our boys and share with them the same things that I taught my students about how it applies to them.

The People who KNOW THEIR GOD

Since we are “the people” who should know our God, Brad and I want our children to understand how we can know God, how we spend time with Him, and how having a relationship with Him and truly knowing Him is different than just knowing ABOUT Him. It’s easy for children who are always in church and surrounded by Christian family members, Christian music, and Bible stories to know a lot ABOUT God.

The crucial point, though, is KNOWING HIM personally. And they can start that NOW, even at very young ages.

We want our boys to love God with all their hearts, to be able to pray and talk to Him on their own (and WANT to), to know His voice and recognize His leading, and to understand the importance of reading their Bibles. We want them to know what the Bible says about God and His character – His love, His goodness, His mercy, His holiness, and His justice.

Will BE STRONG

As children of God who know Him well, we should be strong. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, the same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). Because of this, we can be bold and courageous in our faith, and we are empowered to face temptation and choose obedience to God.

Both of our boys are strong-willed, like their mommy, and they are all about being strong, like super heroes, so this part shouldn’t be too hard for them to grasp. We want our boys to know that since God is with us, we can be powerful, tenacious, determined, and tough warriors who can live a life of no compromise, one that is holy and different from the world.

And TAKE ACTION

Once we truly know Him Whom we have believed, we are bold and courageous to take action, whatever that might be. It could be as simple (and difficult) as being kind to someone who isn’t nice to us or going wherever God asks us to go to reach the world with His love.

We don’t want our children to be content sitting back and doing nothing for God. We want to encourage them to use their gifts and talents in whatever ways He leads them. Our desire is for them to be active in their church, active in sharing their faith with others, and active in pursuing God and His purpose for their lives.

As parents we have the honor and responsibility of laying the spiritual foundation for our children. And while I have always aimed to give my all in teaching my students in the past and my preschool Sunday school class now, my biggest, most important ministry is to our little boys. Brad and I want to make certain that they truly KNOW their GOD, so they can BE STRONG in Him and TAKE ACTION whenever He calls them to.

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL VERSE FOR YOUR FAMILY?

I also have a verse that has become my “Mommy Motto.”

*Note: I chose an easier translation of the verse for the children to learn. In the King James, the entire verse is this: “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” Exploits is a cool word, but a little harder for young children to understand and remember compared to “take action.”

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Last week Elijah stayed home from school a couple days because of an ear infection, and I was given an opportunity to do something that I haven’t done nearly enough in recent months. Not only did I get to snuggle a little more with my big boy, but I also got to grab my camera and capture some moments of my two boys just being together.

I love adorable pictures of them dressed handsomely and smiling happily, but those perfectly posed shots rarely tell as much of a story as a simple picture of my children playing on the living room floor.

There is something so precious to my mommy heart about a candid moment between my two little guys as they build a tower or “race” their cars along the lines of the area rug.

It’s grabbing a piece of my “every day” and saving and savoring it.

Most days, by the time Elijah is home from school, I’m working on dinner, finishing up laundry, or some other housekeeping task while the boys are playing, so I usually miss out on just watching them and seeing how they interact (although I can always hear the giggles and little arguments). It’s not often that I get to sit and witness these seconds of their growing up together.

So one day last week, I was able to get belly-down to the floor and listen as Elijah, a typical older brother, directed Josiah on how they were playing with their castle, knights, blocks, and the random character toys they’d pulled from the toy box. I watched Josiah grin in awe and admiration of Elijah’s stair-buildings skills. And even though I didn’t take a picture of it, I saw Elijah’s frustration when Josiah accidentally knocked over parts of that stairway and his patience as they worked to build it back up.

: Building a stairway to the king.

: Pegasus is going up.

Sure I could have spent less time on the floor, just snatched up my phone, and taken a couple of shots, but that’s not what I wanted. Phone shots are almost always more for everybody else, for quickly sharing something, or in a pinch, catching a moment when my real camera isn’t nearby.

Of course, some people only think of taking out a “real” camera for special events – birthdays, weddings, trips to the zoo.

I like my camera for pictures from those things, too, but what I treasure are the pictures of my boys in the seemingly mundane, ordinariness of something they do every day.

Because it’s simply them being them. (And I LOVE them)

Life in Lape Haven: Why I Capture Our "Everyday" - Getting pictures of my boys as they play and do ordinary, everyday things allows me to save and savor the moments and hold onto the story of their childhood.

Playing together.

Photographs like this require me to slow down a bit and really pay attention to everything going into the picture.

These moments aren’t meant to be “just point, shoot, and post.” It’s about recording the story for them and for me.

Through my camera lens, I get to hold onto to this time when they imagine silly scenarios and create fantastic worlds together. Even though they seem so little now, I know it won’t be long before they are grown.

I want to take every chance that I can to treasure each day with these precious gifts from God, to notice the details of their average day, and capture the moments of their childhood while they are still children.

Of course, once I’ve gotten some pictures, I put my camera down and join their playing.

I don’t just want to capture their memories. I want to be a rather big part of them, too.

If you’d like to get better photos of your family, you can read my 4-part series, How to Take Better Pictures of Your Kids.

Tag - Josiah

Our “Vision Verse” for Our Children