My mentor, Jo Bevington, sent me a letter recently.  I am sharing it with you so you can hopefully capture her  passion for establishing God’s Word in children, and you can feel the joy she possesses in her life.  Keep in mind that she is 85, never had children of her own,  has been a widow for about 40 years, and had a stroke recently which has left her unable to see very well and unable to walk without a walker.  The only thing she has expressed regret about her situation is that she just had to give up teaching her preschool Sunday School class because her walker was too much of a distraction and safety hazard for the children.

Dear Sheilah,

What joy it has been to talk to you on the telephone!

These are the preschool Bible thoughts I was telling you about.  What joy it is to me to make me a pocket verse everyday and by the end of the day I have memorized it…..So I think what fun it would be for families of preschoolers to make their child a “pocket verse” every day.  Since young children are concrete learners, the words of the Bible might become valuable to them if they carried around a little Bible thought each day.

Today was a fun day for me.  Rebecca, who cleans my house, decided she wanted to learn to play piano.  And it has been great joy for me to teach her.  We just take time out from her work and have a lesson.  I am trying to play again, even though it is very hard to see.  I can only do it a short time each time I try.  But the Lord is Good!  I can still play.

I love you, Sheilah!

Jo

Jo’s joy, in spite of her circumstances, comes from her daily contact with God through His Word.

Listed below are some of the Bible thoughts she mentioned.  If you want to see more,  please contact me.  Deuteronomy says we are to be ready to share God’s Word with our children as we go about our daily routine.  I liked Jo’s idea of putting it on a card and giving the child something tangible to hold on to all day.

God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness he called ‘night’   Genesis 1:5

God made all kinds of trees to grow.  Genesis 2:9

Love your father and mother.  Exodus 20:12

A friend loves at all times.  Proverbs 17:17

Everything God made is beautiful.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

The birds have nests.  Matthew 8:20

Help one another.  Galatians 5:13

We had the best Fourth of July ever!!! Yes, we had food; yes, we had fireworks; yes we had watermelon. We had Wii games, bocce ball in the backyard, and conversation around the fire pit. There was the usual Daws family movie quoting and the constant playing of patriotic music and movies throughout the day. There were even a few non-mother-approved displays of pyrotechnics; however, I can’t complain because everyone did sit long enough for the reading of the “Declaration” and “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”. But none of these alone are what made it a spectacular 4th. It’s the fact that our entire family was at our house along with some of our favorite extended family.

Nothing can compare with family enjoying each other. What a gift from God!!! It is interesting that the author of the Declaration of Independence understood the importance of family. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.” I wonder if he had any idea that one day the celebration of what he had a part in would be a family fun-filled holiday.

As my heart rejoices over the day we had, it also hurts for those who couldn’t have that for whatever reason – the recent loss of a daughter, a father near death, discord in the family, or a family member in another country actually defending the right to have a fun-filled 4th.

The first institution God established was the family. No matter what your family situation, always remember – if God so valued the family, so should we. Your family is a gift of God to you, as you are to them.

I hope you will take the time to listen to the following song by Gary Dunham A Happy Family. It was in the top 10 Christian songs in 1981 so it is a little dated, but It has been special to our family through the years. Several years ago one of our children accidentally recorded over our only copy of the song, so you will hear him at the end, but you will get the message of the song

A Happy Family