I had the privilege of speaking to moms in several villages in Uganda last week. Uganda has the 2nd highest fertility rate in the world – 6.65 children born/woman. What do you say to them about training their children spiritually when the physical needs of clothing, shelter, and food are so overwhelming? Elaine Moody spoke before me and told the ladies about how everyone of us must relate to God with our spirits (John 4:24)
This led right into my speaking to them about training their children’s spirits to be sensitive to God.
I shared with them about Samson’s parents who asked how to order their son and the only instruction given was what the mother was to eat during pregnancy. This led us to examine the fact that there are 9 fruit of the spirit and 9 months of pregnancy. Meditating on one fruit of the spirit each month and praying that fruit for your unborn child can help his spirit grow as his little body grows. (see previous blog post on this subject)
I told them that Deuteronomy 6 instructs us to teach our children as we lie down, as we rise up, and as we go. I showed them pictures of things they might see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. I sang songs they could sing with their children to remind the children that God has given them the senses to enjoy His beautiful world. I told them to involve all their senses in helping their children learn about God.
I don’t know how much the moms took away from the time we had together. I can only pray they caught the passion to train their children’s spirits to relate to Christ . . . for He is our only hope whether we live in a well-built home in America or a mud-brick home in Uganda.
(This is another lesson from Here a Little, There a Little, a compilation of Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children. It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.)
Self-Worth
(a sense of your personal worth and value to God and others)
Bible Verse:I will praise God for I am wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
Bible Stories:
Psalm 139:14 Did you know that God made you? He made you when you were in Mommy’s tummy. He made your arms and legs, your eyes, nose, ears, hands, feet. He made your inner parts too- your heart, your stomach, your lungs that help you breathe. God did such a wonderful work when he took all these parts and knit them together into you. I’m glad God made you. I praise God that you are wonderfully made.
Proverbs 16:4 God has made everything for His own purposes. He made you for His purpose. He made Mom and Dad and brother for his purpose. We must ask God what he wants us to do. God will show us why He made us and what He wants us to do with our lives. Let’s ask God to help us know why He made us. We need to remember that God has a special plan for us.
Psalm 150 The Bible says we were made to praise God. We should praise Him for His wonderful works. We should praise Him for being so great. We should praise Him with music. Everything alive should praise God. Let’s praise Him right now with words and singing.
Genesis 1:26-28 In the very beginning God made the world. He made plants and animals to live in His world but He wanted someone to take care of His world. So God made man and woman. He made them like Himself. He told them to take care of the plants and animals. He also told them to have children. That is how we all began. God made Adam and Eve and they had children. Then their children had children and on and on until your Mom and Dad had you.
Job 33:4-6 The Bible says that God has made me. God has breathed life into me. Because of God I live – I run – I eat – I sleep – I play – I grow. The Bible also says I belong to God. Since God made me, I belong to Him. We should always remember we belong to God and try to act like we are His children. God wouldn’t like one of His to act unkind. That would make Him unhappy. God made us wonderful. Let’s make God happy that He made us.
Prayer: Thank you God for making me wonderful. Help me to act like I am your wonderful creation.
Activities for baby:
Let him look in a mirror as you repeat the verse
Listen to music and say, “Thank you God for ears”
Let him smell a flower and say, “Thank you God for my nose”
While feeding say, “Thank you God for my mouth”
Clap hands and sing, “Thank you God for hands”
Activities for older preschoolers:
Look at baby pictures and foot print when he was a baby
Trace his hands and sing, “Thank you God for hands”
Let him smell different spices and say, “Thank you God for my nose”
Let him look in a mirror and thank God for making him so wonderful as he points out his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, chin, etc.
If you haven’t already, hang a growth chart on the wall and measure his height.
Have him color, run, jump, help in some way. Talk about how God made him so wonderful that he can do all these things.
Look at pictures of the inside of our bodies and repeat the Bible verse.
Video
This is a great video for teaching your little one how special God made them.
Songs:
You Are Special cd with several self-esteem building songs by Mister Rogers
Because He Lives mp3 download (second verse is a favorite I have always sung to babies.)
My son convinced me to livestream a video. So I now have a youtube.com account – my username is sheilahdaws. Look me up if you want. I’ll also post all the videos I put on there at this website.
Here is the first one I did. It is a teaching aid with songs to help teach the senses. This is simple to make out of felt and can be used with infants on up. The songs are easy to learn and children enjoy them over and over. I hope you will enjoy creating your own “Joe” and singing with your children as you help them discover that they are “wonderfully made” by God. (Psalm 139:14)
If you can’t get the video to play, try clicking this link.
cd with several self-esteem building songs by Mister Rogers
mp3 download (second verse is a favorite I have always sung to babies.)
I highly recommend this whole cd