Some Thoughts on Children's Education and Worship
(Iain Wilson)
"True education is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers." Education, 13.
The little everyday things of life, the sparrow and the sheep, the lilies of the field, the mustard seed and the sower, the bread and the wine, were used by Jesus to explain the love of God; and He traced the Father's love through all the ordinary human relationships--the love of a mother and father for their child, the loving forgiveness shown by a father towards his prodigal son, and the compassion of the good Samaritan. Jesus himself demonstrated God's love by accepting everyone who came to him for help, and by healing and comforting all the sick and unhappy people who turned to Him.
Today we still find evidence of God's love and care in all the familiar things of daily life, and our worship is centered around God's wonderful love for us. "God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love." Steps to Christ, 10.
It is on his experience of love in the intimate family relationships that a child's growth and development depend. "Home is to be the center of the purest and most elevated affection. Peace, harmony, affection, and happiness should be perseveringly cherished every day, until these precious things abide in the hearts of those who compose the family. The plant of love must be carefully nourished, else it will die. Every good principle must be cherished if we would have it thrive in the soul.
"Parents give your children love: love in babyhood, love in childhood, love in youth. Do not give them frowns, but ever keep a sunshiny countenance.... Every mother should have time to give her children little endearments which are so essential during infancy and childhood. In this way the mother would bind up the children's hearts and happiness with her own. She is to them what God is to us.
"Never act from impulse in governing children. Let authority and affection be blended.... The more unlovely they are, the greater pains you should take to reveal your love for them. When the child has confidence that you want to make him happy, love will break every barrier down. This is the principle of the Saviour's dealing with man; it is the principle that must be brought into the church.
When the mother has gained the confidence of her children and taught them to love and obey her, she has given them the first lesson in the Christian life. They must love and trust and obey their Saviour as they love and trust and obey their parents. The love which in faithful care and right training the parent manifests for the child faintly mirrors the love of Jesus for His faithful people." The Adventist Home, 196-199.
When he is tiny, the baby is almost completely satisfied by his mother; but gradually he turns towards the material environment for some of his satisfaction: he touches and pulls, pokes and pries, and later explores and experiments. The scientific quest for knowledge and understanding has begun: each new discovery is a thing of interest, and the sense of curiosity leads to the sensation of wonder and de light. "Look, look!" he says about everything he finds. "What's this? What's that?" And some time later he begins to question "How does it work?" and "Why?"
Behind all his experiments and adventures stands the stability and security of the home: the reassuring love of the mother and father who protect him.
In order to stimulate their children's curiosity and arouse their wonder and appreciation, the parents should provide not only an attractive environment but one that is full of living interest.
"'God is love,' is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green,--all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God, and His desire to make His children happy." Steps to Christ, 10.
There may be a little garden with flowering shrubs grown by the children and their mother, a few trees, sticks and earth to make a home for tiny insects. There may be a tank for fish, or snails, or caterpillars, and other family pets as well. The children's appreciation of these living things may be shown at any odd time during the day; and in all kinds of different ways.
This joy in the living things of God's creation is the little child's true and spontaneous worship; and his acceptance of the love of those who care for him and his response to that love is the beginning of his acceptance of the love of God.
"To him who learns thus to interpret its teachings, all nature becomes illuminated; the world is a lesson book, life a school. The unity of man with nature and with God, the universal dominion of the law, the results of transgression, cannot fail of impressing the mind and molding the character.
These are lessons that our children need to learn. To the little child, not yet capable of learning from the printed page or of being introduced to the routine of the schoolroom, nature presents an unfailing source of instruction and delight. The heart not yet hardened by contact with evil is quick to recognize the Presence that pervades all created things. The ear as yet undulled by the world's clamor is attentive to the Voice that speaks through nature's utterances. And for those of older years, needing continually its silent reminders of the spiritual and eternal, nature's teaching will be no less a source of pleasure and of instruction." Education, 100.
The child is happy because he knows we love him, and the happy child is overflowing with thankfulness for the very joy of being alive in this wonderful world. His laughter, his frolics, his cries of delight are all demonstrations of gladness. But the child also wants to voice his thanks; he feels an urgent desire to say "Thank you" for all his happiness. This feeling is the child's response to the infinite; he feels the presence of a great and wonderful Power. By teaching the child about God and how to address his thanks to Him, we not only help the child give expression to his feelings, but also help him clarify them. Everything becomes simple to him: God is the Originator of at his blessings therefore God is good and loves him dearly. He speaks to Him as a friend and learns to relate his whole life to Him, his troubles as well as his pleasures. In so doing, the child worships God in a true sense, for worship is communion with God.
Young five year olds are often deeply appreciative of all the lovely things they see around them. They have achieved some stability with regard to their relationships within the family and with other children. They understand something of the meaning of love and some of its expressions, they use words readily and easily, and they know what it means to say "Thank you" for good things received. Their minds are often awake to possibilities of ideas they do not fully understand, and to people they have not seen, they feel sympathy for those in trouble and will often make some spontaneous offer for help. The attainment of such comparative maturity means that many children will be ready to join in a very simple form of "Thank you" to God, following an experience and discussion about something they have enjoyed.
You never know when your child will find his own special moment of wonder and worship, so there must be space in your day to let such things occur. Such time spent in this way is well worthwhile and sows seeds which grow to an understanding of the Christian life.
It is for us then, to confirm the children's own simple faith by stories and readings which uphold their trust in God, and by our whole attitude and reverence towards life. Through prayers, songs of praise, and thanksgiving, we can help them give expression to all they are learning.
"God commanded the Hebrews to teach their children His requirements, and to make them acquainted with all His dealings with their people. The home and the school were one. In the place of stranger lips, the loving hearts of the father and mother were to give instruction to their children. Thoughts of God were associated with all the events of daily life in the home dwelling. The mighty works of God in the deliverance of His people were recounted with eloquence and reverential awe. The great truths of God's providence and of the future life were impressed on the young mind. It became acquainted with the true, the good, the beautiful.
"By the use of figures and symbols the lessons given were illustrated, and thus more firmly fixed in the memory. Through this animated imagery the child was, almost from infancy, initiated into the mysteries, the wisdom, and the hopes of his fathers, and guided in a way of thinking and feeling and anticipating, that reached beyond things seen and transitory, to the unseen and eternal." Child Guidance, 18, 19.
'"Upon all parents there rests the obligation of giving physical, mental, and spiritual instruction. It should be the object of every parent to secure to his child a well-balanced, symmetrical character. This is a work of no small magnitude and importance--a work requiring earnest thought and prayer no less than patient persevering effort. A right foundation must be laid, a framework, strong and firm, erected; and then day-by-day the work of building, polishing, perfecting, must go forward. Child Guidance, 17.
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.
"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Proverbs 20:11.
