Big Truths for Little Kids

I just got back from a few days of camping along the wild and rugged Pacific northwest coast with two of my adult kids. The three of us are raging introverts with very public jobs and we all de-stress best in the beauty of the outdoors. Cape Disappointment has it all: dense forest, cool summer days, challenging hikes, and the loneliest, wildest beach I’ve ever seen. Oh, and no cell service (!) 

Bliss.

I came home to an email from an intentional mom who had some great suggestions for upcoming podcasts, but one of her questions just can’t wait. Why? Because while I sat by the fire watching the sunrise on day two, the Father spoke through His word the answer to her question.

She asked:

What are some practical ways to share about Jesus with my (soon to be) toddler? I know it’s important at that stage, but what are fun ways to engage on the topic of Jesus and (hopefully) make a forever impression in Him? Also, what are family activities you guys would recommend (e.g. Sabbath activities) for engaging with a toddler about Jesus. Is it too soon for this, etc..? 

And suddenly I knew why I’d spent that morning looking up references (what I call chasing down rabbit trails) in my Bible and scribbling notes for later: because it’s NOT ‘too soon to engage a toddler on the topic of Jesus in a way that makes a forever impression on him or her’. 

Here’s what grabbed me in the Word as I soaked in the soul-satisfying beauty in the wilds of creation:

Has not My hand made all these things, and so they came into being?

Isaiah 66v2

This is God speaking. He’s telling us about what’s coming— a new heavens and a new earth where “the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard no more” (Isa.65:17-19). Where “never again will there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years…” (v20). 

He’s telling us how to hang on to faith when the going gets hard, when life doesn’t make sense, when explanations fall short. Look around you and marvel! 

Yes, a two-year-old can grab hold of this profound truth as she scrambles over basalt boulders and finds shells along the seashore. When a parent immerses their child in unpaved, not-air-conditioned, curiosity-driven walk through the woods or along the muddy banks of a creek, and they talk to their toddler about ‘Who made all these things’, their child’s soul can’t help but respond in some intangible, visceral, unexplainable way.  And that right there is a forever impression that will come back when he’s 41 and he has this unexplainable urge to go camping because something inside him remembers the peace he felt way back when… 

Or maybe you live in the city and the thought of camping in the wilds of the Northwest gives you nightmares, here’s another hint of this powerful, in-born truth:

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

Isaiah 40v26

On the last night of our camping we lugged our cumbersome camp chairs down to the beach (well actually, John Mark slung his very cool minimalist folding chair over his shoulder) to watch the sunset. Indescribable colors glowing through just the faintest wisp of perfectly placed clouds to the west. Behind us a harvest moon rising over the dark silhouette of the forest—eerie and awesome. The stuff of masterpieces and ghost stories. We sat enthralled. 

‘Who created all these?’

We know who! And so, we intentionally bring our children into the wonder. The magic sinks deep into their bones and they know too. 

Mom and Dad, get outside with your kids this summer—often. Stand in awe together. Memorize these snippets of Scripture together. 

Repeat the words every time you catch sight of a rainbow as you’re stuck in traffic. Collect some pretty rocks and put them in a bowl in the middle of your kitchen table to remind all of you. Stand outside on your driveway and look up. Say the words together.

Repeat the words again. And again. Do this for decades.

And then when your kids are older than you are now, those truths you impressed on their toddler-sized souls will come back… and in some cases, bring them back.

From my heart,

Diane