Raising Kids to Follow Jesus

Summertime at our house is full of traditions and rituals that announce the arrival of our favorite season.

I love the magic of a family ritual…the warm buttery smell of stove-top popcorn on a movie night or the sight of shimmery, sandy hills which separate you from reaching that first cool foamy-white ocean wave.

The sounds of a crackling fire pit warming flip-flopped toes and roasting marshmallows to a gooey golden brown or the feel of oily sunscreen on warm cheeks indented with goggle outlines.

The taste of a chocolate ice cream cone making brown mustaches and dribbling down elbows before making its final dive to a hot sidewalk.

Having rituals is a key component to creating habits: natural occurring practices in our daily life. A woman named Wendy Wood monitored people’s daily behavior and found that 45% of the decisions we make are actually habits. Almost half of what we do we don’t even think about.

I believe that most parents want to incorporate spirituality and faith into their child’s daily life. So I don’t think I actually need to sell you on the importance of why you should do Bible studies with your children, but maybe I can challenge you on the importance of “Why this one?”

If our goal is to raise kids who regularly practice faith: the best way to do it is to make it a habit in their lives. Scientists say that to create a new habit one needs to make any routine to a habit: and this is exactly what you will find yourself doing.

Starting basic and making small choices can lead to really big changes in the future.

Red Letter Challenge for Kids is specifically modeled with the intent of creating habit forming, life-long rituals in your children’s lives with just a little change (even our challenges are called bite-sized). Each day children will read words that Jesus specifically commanded them to do. They will explore what exactly Jesus meant when He said those words, and finally they will take what they learned and apply it to their daily lives through a challenge. This is exactly how we should be reading and interpreting scripture as a ritual in our lives.

Proverbs 4:20-22 says, “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

So between your firework watching, corn-on-the-cob eating, firefly catching, and swimming pool splashing find time to create a family ritual that will last a lifetime: the habit of reading and applying God’s word. Why not start with Red Letter Challenge for Kids which will give you that small step you are waiting to take towards a desired goal?

You will give your child a priceless tool which will form their character and heart and that they will treasure for decades to come.

If you haven’t heard the great news RLC for Kids is coming out later this summer!  To get a FREE copy, join our launch team on Facebook.  But hurry, less than 70 spots remain.  Just enter the password “challenge.”  And if you miss out on the Launch Team, have no worries, you can get access to your copy of RLC for Kids later this summer.