When you’re thinking about starting a family you tend to think about how great it’s going to be. You start picking out names for your future child and picturing how cute and squishy they are going to be. What you don’t necessarily think about is the serious conversations you’re going to have to have. Things like how that child will be raised when it comes to God and religion. For some families it’s easy and their children will, of course, be raised in the family church. For my family and for many others it’s not that easy. How do you decide what faith is right for your child and for your family?
How do you teach kids spirituality without religion?
This talk (ahem opinionated discussion) came up for my husband and I multiple times when I was pregnant and shortly after my son was born. You see, my husband comes from a very Catholic background. His grandmother is one of the godliest women I know. My family, on the other hand, went to church on holidays and when they felt like I needed a little extra Jesus in my life.
My opinions on organized religion have been the same since I was a child.
I never understood why one God was right and one was wrong. Why one religion taught the truth and the other false beliefs. From age four I asked the question “who am I to tell people they are wrong? Plus, if there is just ONE God then why are there so many different organizations?” I didn’t get it. I still don’t.
I value everyone’s opinions and beliefs. The church is the right fit for some. A church is a home for some and I encourage you to go if that is what feeds your soul! I choose to live my life by the principles written within in most religious scriptures…the universal laws if you will.
I love my neighbors. I know not to steal, not to hurt, and not to kill. We are born knowing only love because we come from love – because we are love. The only way we turn away from love and forget that that is what we are is to be conditioned out of it.
When my husband asked me if I wanted to start going to church admittedly I got a little squirmy. I’ve never felt comfortable in church though I’ve tried. I was a bit thrown off by his question because though raised in the Catholic church my husband is not religious by any means.
His reasoning was the values that church instills. He grew up in the church and liked going to play with friends and being part of a community. All of that I understood but at the same time having questioned organized religion the way I always have I couldn’t see committing to a church simply for those reasons.
Hearing what he said, however, I decided to start implementing some Godly principals within my young son’s life. We started saying prayers every night, practicing gratitude for all things, and mindfulness.
I remember driving to drop him off before work one day when he had just started talking. I was saying how the sky feeds the plants and animals, how the plants make air, and how we breathe the air. I was going on and on about how beautiful our world is and how lucky we are to be here.
At the end of my rant from the back seat, I heard a little voice say “Ahhhhhhmennnnnn and Namaste” which is how we end our prayers every night.
My heart melted and I started to cry. I realized in that moment that I was doing my job. I was teaching him universal love and the right principals and values without condemning another’s belief.
All of that being said there is a sense of community in the church. So the past few years I have worked to find one that will fit our family and teach acceptance without breeding any hate for another. I’ve been to a few – a few times and while everyone is welcoming and oh so loving, part of me just still doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like home.
To me, my church is within. Within you, within me, within each blade of grass and within everything around us. We are energy, we are straight from Source. We are unconditional love and that is our truth.
I will teach my son to be kind to all others and to send love to those who need it the most. Including those who hurt others from being disconnected to their Source. I have always known there was more but I can’t say that I’ve always believed in God. Now I do after accepting this gift.
The video below put into words everything I’ve been trying to tell to the family members who are worried about my soul or for my son. For those who ask me point blank out of condemnation and not love “when are you going to start taking him to Sunday school.” Here it is said perfectly.
This video is about a family who is convincing a 9-year-old girl that she and her mother are not going to heaven if they don’t start going to church. Here is Abraham’s reply. It moved me to tears.