Habits from a Child

Brynlee, my two year old, drives me bananas! She always wants to be held or carried. She follows me everywhere I go. This past weekend, I had an eye opening experience. 

I was working in my office, and she was playing with some markers, which is how I distract her so I can get something accomplished. I finished tracking my finances and turned around. Brynlee was gone. 

She is my velcro, my glue – I was confused. I went looking for her. She wasn’t playing with her books in her room, she wasn’t trying to get into the bath, where was she? 

She was sitting in her little chair in the living room with my small travel Bible in her hands. She was flipping through the pages trying to read. Every once in a while the Bible has a cowboy or cowgirl’s testimony embedded into the pages with pictures of that person. She was studying them inquisitively. I have never seen her sit still or concentrate for that long before. She didn’t even notice I was there while I got my phone and took her picture.

Children see what we do. How we interact with each other, what we spend our time doing, they observe everything. It is in their nature to question their surroundings. For better or worse, they absorb everything like a sponge. My husband and I are both guilty of letting a swear word slip in her presence. We are guilty of raising our voices. I worry that she is going to mimic our behavior someday. 

But today, this weekend, I’m proud of the habit I’m instilling in my daughter. When you are bored, upset, happy, confused, etc. you can always go to God through His Word. The Bible will provide comfort and contentment. 

I’ve never pushed the Bible on my children. Brynlee sits on my lap sometimes while I read from it, but I’ve never gotten her to sit still to read her Child’s Bible. She points out a few animals and then she’s trying to crawl off my lap because she’d rather play or read a book that makes noise or has texture. 

She proved that she is watching me. Every morning I read my devotional and a chapter out of my Bible. While I worked, she took it upon herself to fish my travel Bible out of my purse and find a comfy place without distractions to focus on what it said (or in her case, looked like).

I think we as adults could learn something from her. I’m guilty of being distracted when I read the Bible. The laundry needs switching, the dishes need watching, the baby might need a diaper change, etc. My mind wanders. On the other hand, Brynlee was devoted to studying what was inside the Bible.

When was the last time you dedicated time to studying the Bible instead of just going through the motions of everyday life?
I challenge you to make truly reading the Bible a habit for 40 days and see how it changes your life.