By: Linda Kalter —
Are there children in your life that you want to inspire with the love of God?
I am a grandmother. I have 11 grandchildren from babies to teenagers. They are the light of my life- the apples of my eye.
I want to share with you some of the ways I introduce the joy of God’s love to them.
Before doing so, let’s consider a foundational concept given by Mother Mary on Christmas Eve 1988.
“I cannot stress to you [enough], O parents and teachers and sponsors of our children, how necessary is reinforcement by example. Let your categorical imperative be… “A child may be watching me. A child is watching me. A child will do what I do.”[1]
Being mindful of Mother Mary’s advice, I strive to seize every opportunity to demonstrate love in action.
Now, here we go with some ideas you too could use to share God’s joy with the children in your life.
Gentle Giant Helps Us
First, what would life be without Archangel Michael? His picture is on the visor of my car. When the grandchildren are riding with me, I do the traveling protection decree slowly and lovingly and I often tell them a story of when Archangel Michael helped me. I know you too have many stories of Michael’s intercession to share, like this one.
Once, when their parents were young, our full-size van had a flat tire on a busy road. Their dad was not with us, and cell phones had not been invented, yet. We decreed for help “Lord Michael before, Lord Michael behind ….”[2]
After praying, I took them by the hand and crossed the state highway to knock on the nearest door. A burly giant of a man answered and kindly offered to help. Despite our van having a broken tire jack, this gentle giant and his friend were able to miraculously lift our van and change the tire quickly. We were on our way home and we were grateful.
As the kids entered the house they called, “Daddy! Daddy! Hercules fixed our tire!” I wonder – Was it Archangel Michael or Mighty Hercules who answered our prayer? I’m still not sure but I guess it doesn’t matter.
We Love the Elementals
Another useful avenue for spiritual instruction comes through our family‘s love of the out-of-doors. What would adventure in nature be without thanking the precious elementals[3]? Each one of my grandchildren knows the lilting melody, “We love you; we love you, we love you, our dear elementals we do….”[4] I’m guessing you know the song, too.
Gnomes and fairy statues grace our yard. I move them around so the children are always on the lookout for where they can be found. I love the giggles and squeals as they search and find these treasures.
In addition, beautiful crystals, geodes, Buddhas and saints adorn our home placed at eye level for the children. They especially like the pink, blue and yellow crystals on the table holding their photographs beside their parents’ wedding pictures. This is a first stop for the little ones when they arrive where they proceed to rearrange the crystals and photos to their liking. I purposely mix them up ahead of time.
Smiles and Laughter at Christmas Time
Let’s consider how the holidays throughout the year can be opportunities to promote God’s love.
My family is a creative bunch. This is demonstrated by our annual Christmas Eve play. One year one of the grandkids came up with the idea that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are long lost siblings, brother and sister. In that year’s performance Santa and the Tooth Fairy had a surprise meeting under the Christmas tree as each was leaving gifts for a child who had lost a tooth on Christmas Eve. Can’t you just picture this joyous reunion of two hard working elementals reminiscing about the first Christmas. There were smiles and laughter all around as we absorbed the elementals love for children and Christ.
Now, if you have teenagers in your life, you know about their fascination with social media. Last year after Thanksgiving I was feeling a disconnect with my social media infused teenage granddaughters. Fortunately, I was inspired by the adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
My solution was to create an Advent themed joint text message chain. Daily, I posted holiday jokes or trivia questions about Christmas. Some were serious like Day 7- “What famous saint started Christmas caroling in the 13th century?” You guessed it-Saint Francis. And some were silly like Day 13-“What did the gingerbread boy put on his bed?” Hmm? Cookie sheets, of course! The girls raced to see who could answer first as they were reminded daily of the Christmas story with its message of love and joy. And I was thrilled to reconnect with these precious girls.
To wrap up, I am happy and honored to be an instrument for sharing the love of God with children, especially the apples of my eye. I invite you to muster your love and creativity and join me in fulfilling Mother Mary’s request on behalf of all children. She said in August of 1988,
“I, Mary, say, no matter where you are: Remember my words. Remember the children on earth and do whatever you can on their behalf.” [5]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mother Mary, “Reinforcement by Example”, Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 31, no. 87, December 25, 1988.
[2] Decree 6.05 in Prayers, Meditations and Dynamic Decrees for the Coming Revolution in Higher Consciousness (Gardiner, Mont.: The Summit Lighthouse, 2010).
[3] Ascended Master Encyclopedia, https://www.ascendedmasterencyclopedia.org/w/Elementals
[4] Song 393 in Book of Hymns and Songs, Church Universal and Triumphant (Gardiner, Mont.: The Summit Lighthouse, 2014).
[5] Mother Mary, “The Mother of the World Reaches Out to Children of All Ages”, Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 41, no. 41, August 9, 1988.
Ooh, this is so lovely! Thank you Linda. I love how to move the objects to keep interest and use the teens interests to draw them closer. What a blessing.