Deuteronomy 6:4-9 reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon 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. Tie them (His commandments) as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.“

This sounds like decorating, a party, and celebration time to me!

Another tool to share your faith with your family is to establish specific Spiritual Milestones. Spiritual Milestones are events that are preceded by a season of instruction. These events will celebrate spiritual developmental points in a child’s life. I’ll share just a few that have made a huge impact on our lives:

1. As told in an article in the Cherokee Tribune, Debbie Boling wanted her 2 children to understand the value of the Bible, so she handwrote two copies of the New Testament – one each for her son and daughter – and presented it to them when they graduated from high school. Each copy contained about 6,000 handwritten pages. Her daughter’s response? “It is just something that I believe she really wanted to do for both of us, to show how important the word is and how much she loves us.”

2. The son of one of my prayer partners went away to college and was living in an apartment. She asked a bunch of us to send him a recipe of 5 ingredients or less and a word of encouragement from scripture. He was blown away that he actually got mail, but information he could definitely use as he was away from home for the very first time.

3. First day of school – spray Mom’s perfume on the back of one hand and Daddy’s cologne on the back of the other so that when junior is missing Mommy & Daddy, he can smell his hands and know that Mommy & Daddy are praying for him AND Jesus is right there with them because He loves them so much.  Our prayers are God’s favorite smell anyway (see Psalm 141:2)

4. Those times when YOU drink from the well of living water . . . each time my man or I come home from a retreat, my man shares with #1 son, and I share with Baby Girl. It’s our post-retreat share time. It’s awesome!

5. Go through family photos and share ANYTHING their ancestors did that involved the LORD. My Grandmother taught Sunday school in the local Methodist church in Manassas, Virginia in the 1960’s. Don’t you know that when she went home to be the LORD at 95, my cousins sent her flashcards of Jesus and Bible Stories to me?  I used to use them in my preschool classroom, now I use them in most of my workshops/trainings.

6. A Modern Hope Chest – originally called wedding chests, Americans called them hope chests as in a hope that her dreams of marriage will one day come true. What about the hopes for her future as the bride of Christ? Handmade items are usually the most meaningful, but it should include family photos and a family bible to record her own family history with God. Angels, wall hangings, pictures with scriptures, etc.