My First Ash Wednesday Service
Other Birds Come and Go, But The Cardinals Stay

Blessed Assurance: Observing My Daughter's Faith

 

Josh-applegate-149608
Photo Credit: Josh Applegate (unsplash.com)


 

I’d often find Mom seated at our round dining room table with her hardcover Living Bible, 1970’s deep hunter green in color, and a thin Bible study book opened up right beside the Scriptures. Although she’d attended church her whole life, as a young mother she also became a new believer. I experienced her hunger for the things of God firsthand, and knew the wonder of watching Scripture come to life for the very first time. 

***

From a young age, I’d take my Sunday morning spot next to Mabel and Wilford. An aisle seat on the left-hand side of the sanctuary, about four rows from the front. An active child, I remember trying to go back and forth between them and my mom a few times. For the most part though, I stayed put, with a little help from the candy they kept handing me throughout the service. I knew the choruses to many of the regular hymns before I could even read, although I remember holding a hymn book anyway, wanting to be a part of things.

***

She always seemed to pay attention during praise and worship time. Our little girl was only three years old, but she pretended to sing along, and if she noticed anyone around us raising their hands in worship, she’d lift hers as well. Although she likely didn’t understand what all was going on around her, or the meaning of the words we sang, she seemed caught up in the moment. Isn’t that a form of worship too, focusing on God with a family of believers?

***

Ours is a happier home if I have my quiet time with my Bible and a cup of coffee every morning. It’s not uncommon for me to remind our little one, I only need these few minutes. Although there are times those few minutes creep closer to an hour. My daily Scripture reading is rich, leading to much research and discussion. She knows it’s my time, and it’s important to me.

***

My little girl doesn’t seem to care about worship anymore. I’m unsure what to do about this stage. She asks to sit with her friends, or distracts Grandma and Grandpa during the singing. She knows the songs, and is reading pretty well now, but she’s showing no interest in joining in with the congregation. If I’m completely honest, I think it’s a sure reflection of where she is in her faith walk, and it’s lacking. I wonder if there’s more I can do at home. How do we know for sure if our children are understanding faith? How can we trust her salvation is secure and sanctification has begun?

***

In my efforts to offer our little one a well-rounded faith, we’re incorporating new-to-us traditional practices. We started with an Advent tree, full of toys and candies, to open each day of Advent. We added an Advent Wreath, reading a devotional as a family. I’ve added children’s books about the various seasons of the church. We’ve strolled along the path of the Stations of the Cross on more than one occasion. Communion with the Methodists. No Communion with the Catholics (this upsets her too). Her first Ash Wednesday service, where she kept asking me if she could wipe off the ashes on her forehead before we left the sanctuary. I beamed with pride when those gathered on that particular Wednesday evening started reciting the Lord’s Prayer, and she joined in with confidence.

***

These days, our daughter engages in worship most Sundays. She sings a little loudly at times, but I don’t care one bit because it does my heart good to hear her sing the words. I catch her singing them at home sometimes too, along with the pop music she’s requested lately. She doesn't always want to take her Bible to class, and there are times she says they didn't even use them.

***

I find myself observing my daughter’s faith at every stage. Looking back on my own childhood, I remember having a great passion for things of the church from an early age. I well remember my mom’s passion. My dad never attended church, and I saw a lifestyle void of God. I competed in things like Bible drills and Bible quizzing, putting dozens of Bible verse in my mind and my heart. Overall, my faith beginnings laid a wonderful foundation.

 

My faith looks different now. It’s what - broader, more expansive, with areas where I wrestle with truth and ask God to reveal more of Himself to me? I want my daughter to know faith is a verb. It’s not something we receive once and for all (does she have it yet or not). Faith is a living, breathing experience exploring all the ways we discover Jesus. A moving target. A faith that worships with all her Christian brothers and sisters. I want hers to be a faith that can’t help but worship when praise songs start playing. A faith that goes straight to Scripture for any questions she might have. A faith that knows while she’s in this world, a place meant to be enjoyed and discovered, she’s not of it.

 

Really, I have precious few moments of blessed assurance about my daughter’s faith. It’s developing. There’s an awful lot of “with God’s help” involved in this journey - more than I realized there would be. Ours is a focused effort though. The conversations get richer with age. Our approach to Scripture is less about memorization, more about context and application. Without a doubt, raising a child of God requires a great deal of faith - the verb kind.

 

comments powered by Disqus