Beyond Noah's Ark
Teaching Our Children to Know
and Love the Bible
by Susan R. Garrett
 After
Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, he instructed the Israelites
on how to live in devotion to the Lord. He told them that above
all they must love the Lord with all their heart, soul and strength.
They must keep the commandments and teach them to their children.
Keeping a regular time for family devotions is a great way to
foster both love for the Bible and devotion to the Lord. But
there are impediments to such practice, including schedules with
no room to breathe and our fears that we don't know enough about
the Bible to teach our children well. A more subtle hindrance
is our desire to control kids' exposure to the Bible---to shield
young readers from scripture that may harm them and to ensure
that every passage is presented with a neatly packaged moral.
The Time Crunch
Numerous activities compete for a slot in our kids' spare time.
Weekday afternoons and evenings are filled with extracurricular
activities, homework, dinner and bedtime routines, each claiming
precious minutes. You may be asking, "How can I squeeze
any more moments out of each day?"
The time is there, but you will have to work to find it or make
it. Do you eat together as a family at least a few evenings per
week? Try reading and reflecting as a family on a passage of
scripture before you say grace. Are bedtime stories a part of
the nightly ritual with one or more of your children? Make one
of your readings each night a passage from the Bible. Take heart
from the fact that even 10 minutes each day, offered consistently,
can take you and your family into the heart of scripture. Don't
be discouraged if you can't make it a time for the whole family-start
one-on-one with a single child if that is what you can manage.
Think of your minutes together as planting time-you are planting
and watering seeds of faith; God will give the growth (1 Cor.
3:7).
--Susan R. Garrett, a professor of New Testament for 15
years, teaches at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
Susan is married to a Presbyterian pastor and has two daughters,
ages 12 and 7.
Making Time for God: Daily Devotions for Children and Families
to Share by Susan R. Garrett and Amy Plantinga Pauw (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 2002) is a devotional guide
that leads kids through both better-known and many lesser-known
passages of scripture, each accompanied by a meditation and short
prayer to help stimulate family reflection and discussion.
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