I believe there are three avenues in which we can impress God upon our children through teachable moments. Yesterday I shared how the Holy Spirit is helping me use Bible verses. Another way is to use Bible stories. (Read the beginning of the Teachable Moments series.)
Think Jonah, Paul, Moses, and Noah. Yes, those Bible stories!
Here’s an example of how I almost missed a teachable moment.
A couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to watch with our kids reruns of Little House on the Prairie. I remember watching them as a child and thought Sweet Pea and Bubs would enjoy seeing the stories of Laura, Pa, and Ma after read some of the books.
Honestly, I have been surprised with some of the content in the shows. It probably would not surprise me except up to this point our kids haven’t watch any TV shows – current or reruns – other than a few from PBS. And, we all know that you see everything through different lens when watching with our children!
In this particular episode, Laura had a discussion with a fortune-telling gypsy about the gender of her mom’s baby. I quickly grabbed the remote desiring to shelter our children from witchcraft.
My husband leaned his head in the room and said, “Heidi, you can tell them about it or they can hear about fortune-tellers from others.”
He was exactly correct. Sitting in my lap was a teachable moment that I could either fast forward through or grasp. So, I grabbed the remote, backed up the program, and discussed the situation with our kids. My husband took it a step further and shared a similar story in the Bible. In I Samuel 28, Saul consulted with a medium for wisdom. (Gotta admit that I didn’t realize this story existed in the Bible!) He shared that God has commanded us not to consult fortune-tellers or mediums for answers (Leviticus 19:31).
Later in the program Ma paid the fortune-teller ten cents (which we discussed would have been a lot of money back then) to learn the gender of the baby. Incorrectly she was told the baby would be a boy.
Taking advantage of the teachable moment taught our kiddos:
- God’s opinion of using mediums.
- To wisely use our money.
- God wants us to go to Him for answers.
- Sometimes God wants us to wait for an answer.
- God is the only one who truly knows what will happen in the future.
Mommy learned a valuable lesson too. Choosing to sweep a teachable moment under the rug is the chicken way out.
And, I am thankful for a rewind on a remote.
Tomorrow, we will conclude this series with finding God’s character in teachable moments.
