And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way,
and when you lie down,
and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Before I had children I really missed the point of this passage. I thought it meant that there might be opportunities to point our children to God during the day. I had no idea that it meant that each time we walk along the way, each time we rise is an opportunity, whether I take it or not. And God tells me to be diligent.
Here are a few things I’m learning to talk about:
- We can talk about the faithfulness of God when we wake up and see that he has made the sun rise again today.
- We can talk about how each day God gives us is that we can bring him glory and enjoy him.
- We can talk about our Father who provides when we thank him for our food.
- We can talk about coveting when we like our sister’s new shirt better than our old one. And how hard it is. And how we can ask God to help us when it’s so hard.
- We can listen to the birds and ask who made them and who gave them such pretty songs.
- We can talk about how all good gifts come from God when we walk to the park.
It doesn’t matter if we’re eating or reading or trying to go to sleep at night or cranky when we wake up in the morning, God has told me to be diligent. And he has also told me how: these words, the words of God, shall be on my heart. They shall be in my thoughts and overflowing.
Lord, give us grace to talk about these things today.