Discovering Your Child's Design, Part 3

Voilà... After a "Wordless Wednesday" (i.e. you notice I didn't post anything other than pics of the little peanut yesterday), here's another excerpt from the book Discovering Your Child's Design by Ralph Mattson and Thom Black.

"...While it is assumed that children will be exposed to formal worship in church settings, this is another area where the design of your child is very important. The better you know him, the better you can anticipate how he will respond to the church experience. With a little foresight you can provide the right buffers for the aspects of adult worship which are tedious for hte child.

But more importantly, you need to be aware of antoher level of worship which is informal and very personal. Because of our unique capacities, each of us has a very specific ability to appreciate a particular aspect of Good. In addition, we each tend to relate to other personalities in our own distinctive style. These two factors rpovide a script for the kind of communication possible between yourself and God.

People first need to see how God reveals Himself in their lives. Then they need to find the most natural way of responding that holds their enthusiasm. This type of communication with God can begin early in life. Parents should use their spiritual intuition in figuring out how to encourage personal worship, given the unique nature of their own child.

the parent's goal should be for chldren to experience God in an intimate way, remembering that God has an even strner interest in such relationships then we do. Parents need to expect that God will enter into such situations. Such faith is not only a benefit for the parents involved, but also a model for the children. This model of faith may be the base that the child builds on as he or she matures into a caring, worshipful individual." (p. 188)

I'd never thought about this before... that we each have particular aspects and styles of worship that draw us naturally because God "wired" us that way... and that is part of God's thumbprint on our lives. But it does make sense. I'm a "words" person - so while I enjoy listening to music and worshipping the Lord through song, it doesn't speak to my heart the way reading devotional literature, rewriting and personalize Scripture or reading certain inspiratinal/devotional blogs does. And the best thing is that it isn't a matter of right or wrong, but rather how God created us... and He enjoyes our particular peculiarities because He made us that way.

When I look at that as a parent, what a joy and delight it is to try and figure out those particular peculiarities of our children... and as we do, to see God through their eyes and learn things about Him we might never see ourselves. It is also privilege and a great responsiblity to realize that I am in such a unique position to help my child learn how to love and appreciate His maker and His Savior.