The God candle

I chatted with some mums, sans kids, in a noisy Greek restaurant surrounded by 40 bikers who included our husbands. We made a little holy huddle, shouting to be heard about our desire for our kids to live as Christians, dedicated to Christ.

My middle child is very good at making connections between her prayers and God's actions. She remembers what she has asked God for, and tells me when she sees God answer. She has a little round carpet that she calls her prayer mat. She will take it off to a quiet corner and decorate the space with icons, candles, tinsel, a gold goblet, stones and anything that helps her tell a bible story. She has a prayer journal that she places there too.

She has moments where she cannot believe that God loves her because she feels so bad. She knows she does not do the good things she wants to do. She has moments when she is overwhelmed at how sinful the world is, and moments when she is filled with complete joy at the wonderful way God has made things. It is very easy to know your child is developing a relationship with God when they come out with things like this. It's a little harder when they show no interest in prayer, or church, or at 5 or 7 0r 13 just say, "God is dead."

One thing we all did in situations like these, was never give up. We continued to say bedtime prayers with our non participating children, or said grace, or continued to take them to church.

Sometimes we have crazy ideas, like a Saturday night family worship night where the family sits around and sings songs and reads the bible and has little talks about God. I say crazy because despite all those American books that recommend the idea, every person I've met who has suggested it to their partner has not been greeted with enthusiasm. Possibly because it is so contrived. (Feel free to comment if you have found a way to make it work for you. Everyone is open to ideas that work. )

What has worked for us, is little everyday rituals that slip into family life. My all time favourite easy-to-start-with God ritual is what we call, "The God candle." We found a little triangular plate that we sit a big fat candle on. It sits on the dinner table and each night at dinner we light the God candle to remind us that God is always with us, and that He is the light, who chases away the fear we have in the darkness. We have a candle snuffer, and whoever snuffs out the candle says a short prayer.

At night time when the kids are scared of the dark, we pray, we sing, "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal , Have mercy on us," we ask God to lock up the scary things and send them away ande I leave the God candle flickering away on a cleared, high shelf.