I simultaneously long for and dread the last day of school and the transition into summer vacation. My family’s daily and weekly rhythms are turned upside down and inside out as school lets out and summer activities ramp up. For this routine-loving-momma, trying to establish new rhythms can feel simultaneously daunting and filled with possibility.
Even as those first days and weeks feel chaotic as we work toward finding a new normal, I love the slower pace and the opportunity to focus on spiritual development without the competition of weekends and evenings filled with homework and school projects. I’m able to use the temporary academic pause to weave both knowledge and application of God’s truth into my family’s summer rhythm. What does this look like? How do I engage my children simultaneously at a level they can understand?
After years of trial and error, I’ve learned to use themes to guide our summer learning as we practice living our faith out loud. For example, one of our themes this summer is gratitude (we’ll have three themes, one for each month). Having chosen a theme, I approach our learning and application in three ways:
1) Explore how it applies in scripture. We read our Bibles for examples of men and women who cultivated grateful hearts (or failed to) and talk about what happened because of their actions. Older children can read the Bible with an eye toward finding examples of our theme and then share what they found as part of our broader family conversation.
2) Find and memorize key verses. We memorize a key verse (for us, it’s weekly) about gratitude by writing it on Post-Its and then placing them in obvious places around the house with daily quizzing.
3) Seek practical applications. We practice gratitude by keeping a daily family gratitude journal in which we each find three things we are grateful for, as well as writing weekly thank you cards to people and organizations whose service to others and our community is often overlooked.
This three-step framework is infinitely customizable. Your theme can be for the entire summer, change monthly or even weekly, and can be applied no matter where you are traveling or what your summer schedule looks like around work and activities. Besides gratitude, other ideas for themes could include kindness, friendship, grace, forgiveness, and love.
And finally, keep in mind that spiritual development is a journey, not a destination. Don’t get discouraged by hard days, cranky kids, or upended plans. Teaching our kids about Jesus is a years-long commitment, and there are going to be good and bad days along the way. You’ve got this, Momma!
Kristin Demery, Kendra Roehl, and Julie Fisk—creators of the website The Ruth Experience—are three friends whose lives are intertwined as writers, speakers, wives, moms, and world-changers. Together, they are the authors of several books, including the newly released One Year Daily Acts of Friendship: 365 Days to Finding, Keeping and Loving Your Friends and 100 Daily Acts of Friendship for Girls: A Devotional, and have been featured online at (in)courage, USA Today, Joyful Life Magazine, The Better Mom, MOPS International, and the Huffington Post.
