Weekly Feedings
I only feed my children once a week.
I know that they should have food daily, but I’ve found that they can actually get by on one good meal weekly, so I’ve been skimping to make things easier.
In fact, I’m not even the one cooking or serving them that one meal.
I just drive them to the restaurant where I know they’ll be fed.
I drop them off and pick them up an hour later once they’re full, pleased in knowing that I won’t have to worry about their hunger for seven more days.
This system has relieved so much responsibility from my shoulders!
Occasionally throughout the week, the kids will grumble about being hungry, so I might toss them a quick snack to tide them over. It’s not really full of the nourishment they need, but I know someone else will feed them on their day to eat, so I don’t fret about it too much.
Before you report me to Social Services, let me remind you that you might be guilty of doing the same thing to your kids.
What if I told you that my children’s “day to eat” is Sunday?
Or that the “restaurant” where I drop them off is church?
And that the hour they spend “eating” is actually their Sunday School or Children’s Ministry Environment?
That the “chefs and waiters” feeding my children are, in fact, church volunteers and staff?
Or that their “weekly meal” is the one time during the week that they’re hearing and reading God’s truth spoken into their lives?
That by shirking off this responsibility to someone else, I am being disobedient to the most fundamental instruction of what God has required of me, their parent?
What does God have to say about all this?
Plenty.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4
Well, I’m still doing that by taking them to church once a week, right??
How about this one:
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
God’s pretty clear about who should be training up my children in His ways.
Me.
He’s also pretty clear about how often I should be training up my children in His ways.
All day, e’ry day.
Where do I start Faith Training?
It’s not a big responsibility.
It’s the MOST important responsibility.
The only one that matters.
Thankfully, we haven’t been left to our own devices to figure this out. God tells us:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
2 Timothy 3:16
- There are some great devotions you can find to help “train up [your] child” in a way that meets their age and maturity level.
- The Youversion Bible App has some great resources too. Aside from our own daily reading, my husband and I will use this app to do devotionals with our oldest son. You can pick a devo or reading plan, and the app will ask if you are reading it alone or with a friend. You can invite that friend (or in this case, child) to participate in the study with you. Our son doesn’t have his own phone, but he accesses the app on his kindle or the family iPad. I love the questions after each reading— sometimes my husband and I are blown away by our son’s responses when we read what he’s entered. It’s a great way to keep study time in tact, even when our different schedules have us going in opposite directions.
- I strongly recommend downloading the Parent Cue App. It has an abundance of tools to help with each stage of your child’s life, with a new focus each week. It gives you ideas to talk about in the car, around the supper table, etc. We’ve been using Parent Cue to help us concentrate on one bible verse each week.
- I created this Verse of the Week worksheet to help my boys and I impress God’s scripture on our hearts. Each day, we take a couple minutes during breakfast time to do each activity.
You can print copies for your family too after signing up for our Free Weekly Newsletter.
Our verse this week was:
The way we show our love is to obey God’s commands. He commands you to lead a life of love. That’s what you have heard from the beginning.
2 John 6
You’d better believe when two of my boys started arguing and being mean to each other yesterday, I told them to grab the worksheets and read me what they’d just written down that morning. Their attitude towards one another shifted immediately.
So what about Church?
There are 168 hours in a week.
We can’t expect church to do more for our kids in their ONE hour a week with them, than we do with the other 167.
Yes, I know we have to factor in things like sleep, jobs, school, activities, etc.
But remember:
Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:7
God is telling us to use the time we have, not focusing on the time we don’t have.
What if we start taking our kids to church for dessert, knowing that we’ve given them a healthy, nutritious meal the other days of the week?
Download these for Apple:
Youversion Bible App
Parent Cue App
Download these for Android:
Youversion Bible App
Parent Cue App
Next Steps
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