"Until Christ is formed in you": Nurturing the spirituality of children

Theology Today, Apr 1999 by Dawn, Marva J

What we especially want children to learn is that all dimensions of their activities are part of their spirituality. For example, since driving is of great importance in most sophomores' lives, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership asked how driving could be made holy and Jewish.34 What could we do in our families to help children "think Christianly" about their stewardship of driving, money, possessions, friendship, dating, sports, and time? As soon as I began to receive an allowance as a child, I was also taught the delight of tithing. Family customs such as buying Christmas presents for the underprivileged, spending time helping at homeless shelters, providing transportation to shut-ins for grocery shopping or worship services, and caring for neighbors' needs nurture even in toddlers Christian attitudes and behaviors with lifelong outgrowths.

INWARD: CHARACTER

In order to mend properly, my jaw has to be kept clean; food debris could lead to infection and obstruct healing. Similarly, we don't want our children's minds, souls-character-to be polluted, but to retain the image of the Creator, to cultivate "the mind of Christ," to develop the "fruit of the Spirit."

We live in a society that has turned from the cultivation of character (related to moral truths and goodness) to the fashioning of personality (built on style) as the measure of success. People strive to be "interesting and fun" rather than good, to be externally "perfect" rather than internally virtuous.35 We see the results in high levels of teenage depression and substance abuse, the vast amount of money spent on fabricating physical beauty (according to narrow conceptions), the nature of publications for adolescents.

It is extremely difficult to nurture in children a different sense of what is important when our world is awash in images of physical perfection. We must counter those (as well as limit exposure to them) with celebration of a child's baptismal identity as God's beloved, affirmations of their virtues visits with those who display a rich life in spite of physical limitations,36 discussions about and modelling of what really matters, conversations about the reinforcing spiral of character and behavior, Bible readings demonstrating godly character, and prayers and contemplation concerning who we are becoming.

FORWARD: VOCATION

How I care for my jaw now will have long-term consequences for speaking, health, and appearance; so will our children's spiritual development. Early in their lives we can begin teaching a larger perspective-for example, praying thankfully increases our sense of gratitude. As they mature, we can broaden the horizon-for example, being diligent in our prayers now makes it easier when we encounter difficult times. Basing their lives on grace (of which they are reminded in their devotional disciplines), children can discover more and more how to improvise faith in daily life, to ask questions about how actions now might influence faithfulness in the future.