Treasuring God in Our Traditions (1)
My in-laws gave me this book by Noel Piper for Christmas. I’m going to try to share some quotes throughout my reading.
From the forward (by John Piper): “God is the treasure of our lives. We see him in everything. We believe with all our hearts that ‘from him and through him and to him are all things.’ He gets the glory, we get the joy.”
Because God has given all things and sustains all things and gathers all things to himself for his glory, we are to delight and en-joy glorifying God in all things. OK, so that only turns Piper’s statement into a run on sentence [grin], how does one do that? This book has been written to encourage us to think about such things and give ideas of how that practice can be made. This is why I want to “think aloud” through this book. Do we have traditions for traditions’ sake, or do we have traditions to glorify and enjoy God?
“Memories go with lots of things.” (p.13)
That is so true! A friend/acquaintance recently “friended” me on Facebook and posted our 5th grade class picture. Memories came flooding back, it was a year of adjustments for me, but as we were chatting about it she remembered a special time my parents planned … a sleepover for all us kids! We got to invite 2-3 friends apiece (there were 5 of us) and we did all sorts of things: ice cream sundae bar, making pretzels/pizzas, games, etc. To her that was a highlight of her 5th grade memory. While it was a fun time, we had a lot of fun things that we did as a family together, even if things like a new school and few friends made my non-home life difficult. Memories go with lots of things.
“Moses assumes children will ask why. And he instructs parents to give an answer that speaks of reality.” (p. 17)
My littles are constantly asking why. I need to remember to answer them in a way that points them to Christ (and “because God made it that way” isn’t always a satisfactory answer) … and not out of frustration or “just get this kid to stop asking me” but really think like they are and ask why?
What say you? Do you have traditions for the sake of tradition? How do you change them to being for the sake of Christ? Do you have anything that has recently brought on a flood of memories? (I dug my high-school jacket out of the hall closet when I cleared it out today … I don’t want to get rid of it, but I don’t know what to do with it either, it is a prized possession.) Finally, how do you bring all of the “why” of children to Christ? To showing how he created and sustains all things Col 1:16-17 without resorting to “that’s just how God made it.”?
Oh, I think I am going to enjoy these posts! (Can I read the book when you are done?)
Lizzie's birthday brought a flood of memories from her pregnancy to her birth. Flipping through our scrapbooks, which we do often with our children, always brings a ton of memories and also a time to point them to Christ. We can share stories of how He has blessed them and, with a few, saved them from physical danger. We also share various stories of God's providence in Eric & I's lives, as well as extended family.
I think we have both kinds of traditions- some are funny little things we do that make the Tullys Tullys. But most of our traditions have been thought out (and many are still being thought out) by Eric and I. As we seek to train our children in the ways of the Lord, family traditions have become a special way to do that. Right now, most of these traditions center around the holidays but we're praying & thinking through more. And I hope to write out some of these traditions so there is a written record!
Oh, and in answering "why" just this one thought: I think it is so important to find out the why w/ our children if we do not know it! Search it out together & praise God for how He has shown Himself!
Phew- that was a long comment! (And hopefully it made sense b/c I'm dead tired right now!)
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