Jan. 29-Feb. 5 (Q1, L5) Let Them Come!

Memory verse: "Let the little children come to me." LUKE 18:16 (NIV)
Lesson 5: Let Them Come! (PDF)
Scripture: Luke 18:15-17
Commentary: Desire of Ages pp. 511-517

• When might I surprise my kids this week by prioritizing them over something or someone more serious?
• How is Jesus using my children to teach me about the Kingdom and how it is received?

Jan 22-29 (Q1, L4) Friend to All

Memory verse: "Be kind...to one another." EPHESIANS 4:32, NIV
Lesson 4: Friend to All PDF
Scripture:  Luke 2:40-52
Commentary: Desire of Ages pp. 70,74; 82,83 

How many times can I catch my kids being like Jesus this week? 

Jan 15-22 (Q1, L3)

Memory verse: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature." LUKE 2:52, NIV
Lesson 3: Lost and Found PDF
Scripture: Luke 2:39-52

Isn't it interesting how even at age 12, Jesus is challenging his parents' spiritual life?

How have your kids challenged your spiritual life? What have they said or done that maybe frustrated you at the time, but since then, you've "treasured all these things in your heart"?

Jan. 8-15 (Q1, L2)

Memory verse: "Even a child is known by his actions." PROVERBS 20:11 NIV
Lesson 2: Daddy's Helper (PDF)
Scripture: Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3
Commentary: Desire of Ages pp. 72-74

A great song for this week's memory verse is Steve Green's "Even a Child" from the album "Hide 'Em in Your Heart, Vol. 1"

I struggle sometimes trying to articulate how yes, we are known by our actions like the verse says, yet even when we choose bad actions, God sees who we REALLY are, sees the God-image us that is even more true than our actions.


Any good ways you 've found to explain or show that to your kids?

Jan. 1-8 (Q1, L1)

Memory verse: “Then he went down to Nazareth . . . and was obedient.” LUKE 2:51, NIV.

Lesson 1: A Child Like Me (PDF)

Scripture: Luke 2:39-52

Welcome!

Possibility:
I want to create consistent, good times of God-centered study and conversation with my kids that connect to what my church community is focusing on.

Problem:
I am a disaster at keeping track of physical objects such as a quarterly lesson book, weekly Our Little Friend magazines, and even those awesome refrigerator magnets that our church just started sending home.

But I don't lose my phone or computer.

Proposal: To keep me conscious of playing with my kids around the lesson and helping them marinate (as Pastor Jon Ciccarelli likes to say) in the memory verse, I am setting up a weekly blog that will email both to me on my computer and phone.

Pipe dream:
This thing will

• help a few other parents talk and play through the lesson and practice the memory verse with their kids weekly
• give us a place to share stories, questions, brilliant (and other) ideas about our interactions with our children and life...which will work if you comment on the blog

Here's to a year marinating with our kids in God's words of life!