Quotes About Children

Although God respects our freedom of choice and our children may reject grace, I believe their choice is influenced toward God when we give them to God, trust them to grace, and open ourselves to reflect God's love.

is often considered to be something children use in play and then discard when they become adults and put away childish things. We are therefore not surprised to learn that children use their imagination to enter stories, to experience them, and even to meet God there, but few adults think of using their imagination to meet God. However, following the lead of children could enrich the spiritual walk for adults.

To communicate effectively with children we must learn how they think.

Imagination brings stories to life for both children and adults.

If the kingdom of God belongs to children, they deserve full welcome and participation; they need to grow up as noticed, valued, and nurtured members of the faith community.

All children," says Walter Wangerin Jr., "experience the Dear Almighty. All people begin, at least, to dance with Deity. And yet so few continue in the dance. . . . And why? Because, when they needed language to name and to save the experience, it was not given unto them.

To live and grow, faith needs religion. Children—and adolescents or adults with a newborn faith—must learn God's name and the stories of God's people.

children are "powerfully and permanently influenced" by how these significant others live their lives and their faith, by their moods, and by the stories they tell of their faith.[19]

As children construct their understandings of God and religion, they are surrounded by symbols for their imaginations to take hold of and to build into their faith images. When children begin to ask questions about the rituals and symbols of the faith, we know their imaginations are grasped by the symbol and that they are working to create a meaning for it.

Children form their image of God in the context of relating to their parents and other significant adults.

Imagination is the power to form in our minds the images of reality. Fowler sees imagination as a powerful force in all learning not just in faith development. When young children use imagination to form their image of God, they are using a natural tool for learning.

The children with whom I worship are also fascinated with symbols of our faith.

Imagine children watching as the Levites took down the tabernacle or put it up again. There was mystery as the Levites carried the tabernacle furnishings.

Maria Montessori, a European educator of an earlier generation, designed a setting for children that was "between the classroom and the church." It was a place where children came to meet God and to know the deep realities of faith—a place, not for instruction, but for experiencing the religious life.[4] My observations suggest that few churches provide such a place for children.

We often try to compete with the rapid paced entertainment of television, seldom giving children a quiet moment in which to meet God, and many children lose touch with the God for whom their hearts hunger.

Yes, our children must one day make the faith their own and give themselves to God, but God graciously draws them toward that day. Although God respects our freedom of choice and our children may reject grace, I believe their choice is influenced toward God when we give them to God, trust them to grace, and open ourselves to reflect God's love.

We need not fear that children with creative imaginations will make God into nothing more than their other fantasies. The unseen God is real to children.

God's design is to work through the everyday relationships of parents and children to provide children with experiences that prepare them for faith.

People who care about the spiritual formation of children must be concerned about the spiritual formation of the parents and their finding of a place in the faith community.

Biblical narratives provide the basic set of stories containing the important Christian beliefs, and children receive a great gift when we tell them Bible stories with clarity and drama. They also need to hear the stories of their particular faith tradition.

When we give children opportunity to meet God, we are not attempting to force something unnatural on them. Children are born with the potential for spiritual experience, and God is the one who stimulates the activation of that potential.

God wants children to live in homes and a community where the laws of God are not just recited and talked about but lived. Children need to see and experience the faith in action.

Teaching children is important for adults as well as children. As we tell children the stories of the faith, talk with them about God, and answer their questions, we refocus on God.

Moses does not recommend a theological lecture; children benefit more by hearing the stories that carry the theology.