For Ladies: Spiritual Health


Ginny Lallance


In this technological age, do our children spend more time with electronic gadgets or outside in the fresh air? Do they exercise their bodies by running and playing or just their thumbs and fingers on I-Pods, cell phones, video games, etc.? The thoughts for this article came about from a sermon I recently heard. My husband preached on spiritual starvation. It made me think we could apply it to children.


As mothers and grandmothers we want to provide healthy meals and snacks for our children. When we grocery shop, we try to select good nourishing foods. It is important to our children’s wellbeing that what they put into their bodies will help them grow strong and healthy, but what are we providing for their spiritual nourishment? How much importance is being placed on ingesting and digesting God’s word? Does their spiritual diet consist of perhaps Sunday morning and Wednesday evening Bible classes and Vacation Bible School for a few days? Are they being fed on a daily basis from the "menu" of God’s word?


We have a responsibility to provide spiritual food for our children to grow into strong, healthy Christians. Often, with physical food, a child will say, “I don’t like that,” about certain foods on their plates. We then encourage them to eat it because it is good and healthy for their growing bodies. Now, a question: What about their spiritual growth? When we, along with our children, make a choice to stay home from worship services, for example, are we not depriving the children of good, healthy spiritual food? When the apostle Paul wrote to the young preacher Timothy, in I Timothy 4:12, we read these words: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” This is a favorite scripture of mine when talking to young people. What an example they can be when their spiritual nourishment comes by reading and studying the Bible!


When our children’s daily activity includes fresh air and exercise in God’s great outdoors, they will grow physically stronger, and we want that growth to continue. However, in closing, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. As the days bring opportunity for us to spend time with our children and grandchildren, let us make time to nourish their minds and not just their bodies. Set forth a “menu” that includes daily reading and study from God’s word and a time to pray together. Take a nature walk and have a conversation about God’s creation. Spread a blanket in the grass and gaze up at the beautiful night-time sky. Just a few weeks ago, sitting in the swing on our deck, my grandson Alex and I enjoyed a late night dish of ice cream. We talked about the moonlight and the stars. Let us find opportunities to spend time nourishing our children both physically and spiritually. –Rt. 2 Box 177, Belington, WV 26250. mrmrsl@meer.net


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