As parents, we do so many things intentionally for our children: driving them to soccer practice and music lessons, providing healthy meals and secure homes. Why? Because we want our children to be well balanced--physically, men-tally and socially. But a few years ago, someone asked us, "How intentional are you about passing on a spiritual legacy to your children?"
As parents, God assigned us the primary responsibility of teaching our children biblical truths. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 instructs us to take the Word and impress it upon our children. Talk to them at home, when we are walking (or driving), when we're going to bed, when we're getting up in the mornings (my paraphrase).
We have determined to be more intentional about teaching our children biblical truths at home. We started by having a family night once a week. Finding resources was easy (we used Focus on the Family's An Introduction to Family Night Tool Chest and Movie Nights: 25 Movies to Spark Spiritual Discussion with Your Teen). Our biggest challenge was finding a night we were all at home! Our family nights were geared towards the ages of our children. We shared family prayer requests and kept a family prayer journal. How great was it to look back with the children and see so many answered prayers!
As our children have grown and as the age span between the oldest and youngest has expanded, we've had to get creative with family nights. It may be as simple as watching a movie together and talking about the spiritual and moral implications afterwards. Having this intentional time with our children has not only been fun, but it has allowed us to start planting seeds for the spiritual legacy we hope to pass on to our children.