After wrapping up our series on the Holy Spirit I was unsure where to go next with the kids. The summer months mean that people miss a lot of Sundays and everything slows down a bit — including my brain! After some surfing on the web for ideas, I remembered a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time called Habits of a Child’s Heart.
While it’s intended to be used within the context of a family relationship between parents and children, it hasn’t been difficult to adapt the content for our group. And as parents we can continue to practice each habit with our children at home throughout the week.
Each chapter opens with a brief explanation of what the discipline is followed by ideas for how to practice that discipline yourself. After that the authors present ways to teach the discipline to children ranging from very young (pre-school age) up through adolescence.
We’ve done two habits so far – meditation and prayer. (I’ll write about these soon.)
The book has been a helpful guide in introducing spiritual habits to the children in our group. But, I’ve been struck more by how much each chapter has impacted me. It’s given me food for thought and challenged me to pursue the spiritual disciplines more intentionally.
I will be posting more as we work through different habits, and I’m looking forward to how it shapes the kids as well as our entire group.
Can’t wait to hear about how your time practicing meditation and prayer with the children went! I’d love to hear their perspectives on it.