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Enjoying God’s Creation By Julie Jones, CCT member During a recent Grapple lesson on how the Bible teaches us that is our responsibility to care for His creation, I asked my fifth and sixth grade church school students to share something they have enjoyed about being outdoors. I was surprised at the outpouring (even from the shy students) of experiences they shared about a favorite spot at their family’s lake cabin or a friend’s backyard. They described the wonder of seeing the dew on a spider web or frost on a leaf. I challenged my students to try to find something of wonder in the outdoors every day the following week. Even though it was winter, I challenged them to find something. But, later in the week I realized that was a difficult request, because they had little opportunity to be in the outdoors – at least an interesting part of the outdoors. I took note of many things that week: the way the fresh snow sparkled in the moonlight one night when my daughter and I went for an after –dark cross-county skiing outing at Elm Creek Park, a large bird’s nest high up in the trees on my route driving to work that I had never noticed before; a spectacular display of sun dogs at sunrise one day on my drive to work; footprints from a rabbit in the snow in my back yard when I let the dog out, and frost on the trees one morning when I took the dog for a walk. But my students, likely rode the bus to school with little opportunity to see outside. They were locked inside that week for recess, because of the wind chills. When they came home from school, it was dark. They likely never got to go outside after dark, staying inside their warm homes to watch TV or play video games. How could they connect to God’s creation if they could not get out and see it? Now that warmer weather is here, take time to teach your kids a lesson that they are not going to hear in school. Take them outside. Take them to one of our many parks. Point out the wonders of creation that you see, and remind them that God created this planet for them to enjoy and to sustain. Granted there are many wonders of this world which are not contained in Minnesota. A trip to a zoo can help teach them about other animals and habitats. But, go one step further and go online and study about a particular animal that they take interest in and find out what that animal needs to survive in the wild. You can also rent nature movies to learn more about certain creatures. Although, with young children, you may want to preview the movie yourself first, as the circle of life shown in many nature films involves scenes your child may have difficulty understanding at a young age. As parents, you have many lessons that you need to teach your children as they grow. Don’t miss this one. Make sure you take some time this spring and summer to teach your kids about the wonders of God’s creation. |
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