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| A Day to Dream | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/15/2007 7:37 PM | |
| | A tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams for children and a plea to keep praying for children everywhere. |  | |
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| A Time to Listen in Reactive Times | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/5/2007 8:29 PM | |
| | From personal emails to a press conference with President Bush, we are quick to respond and hurt feelings. We do this our kids. Let's stop and ask a clarifying question before we respond. | | |
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| Walking Through Deep Waters with our Children | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/2/2007 8:31 PM | |
| | The Prophet Isaiah once wrote with great confidence, "When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you." (Isaiah 43:2, GNT) For the4 sake of our children, let's remember this promise of God. | | |
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| Spiritual Questions of Children | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/1/2007 8:00 PM | |
| Often children ask us spiritual questions and have
spiritual issues arise that we as parents, grandparents, educators and
friends don't feel comfortable addressing. This is a place where you
can ask for help and advice on how to respond to those important but
often bewildering questions!
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| Defining Spirituality | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/1/2007 7:00 PM | |
| One of the stumbling blocks in discussing spirituality
and children is that there are so many definitions of spirituality. I
would like to share my working definition here and get your responses
and input. Perhaps together we can create a usable definition!
When I work with hurting children, I tell them that my job is to help
them find their spiritual strength in times of hurt, grief and pain.
Often they say, "What is my spirit?" And I respond with my own
definition of spirituality which I must admit is not the most scholarly
or theologically advanced.
My Definition: Your spirit is that part of you that is the real part of
you--the part of you that is not your body or your brain, but the real
you.
Almost 100% of the children say, "Oh--that part!!! Okay!" But as I
share my definition with adults they often push me for a more precise,
theologically worded definition or they ask thin ... | | |
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| Listening to the Spiritual Stories of Children | | Leanne's Blog
| By Leanne on1/1/2007 6:00 PM | |
| Since the time of Plato, children have been regarded as
empty vessels and blank slates. It has been the responsibility of
adults to create, shape, and form their spirituality. The sad result is
that adults have focused most of their time and resources designing
ways to indoctrinate children into whatever faith tradition they upheld.
Unfortunately, children have suffered. In our well-meaning attempts to
shape and mold children, their spiritual voices have been silenced. We
have been so busy imparting knowledge and pouring doctrine into them
that we have failed to ask them to tell us what their spiritual
experiences with God are.
I have spent the past 25 years listening to children and journeying
with them through times of hurt and pain. The depth of their
spirituality never ceases to amaze me and touch my soul.
On this blog I encourage us to share the spiritual experiences of
children. Our focus shoul ... | | |
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