Carla's Corner: The Greatest Commandment Part 2: All Your Mind PLUS Free Book Give Away!

This series of posts examines how we can teach our children to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, (Mark 12:30). Last week we look at the heart, today we will see how our kids can focus their minds on God and his character.

Television, billboards, tabloids in the check-out line battle for our children’s minds—and ours.


Filling our children’s minds with good and rigtheous concepts can begin as early as birth and increase as they learn to think and reason. Now is the time to take advantage of this learning time to fill their little heads with spiritual truths and pure thoughts. But how do we combat all the pictures, words, and music that bombard them each day? We’re commanded to love God with all our mind and that’s hard to do when so many other things fill our thoughts.

The Bible refers to meditation as focusing our thoughts on God and His Word. The spiritual discipline of meditation quiets our souls to hear God’s voice. My blog post on The Spiritual Mom expounds on this discipline. Here are some suggestions for helping your child meditate on God and his truths, starting in infancy and moving on to older children.

* Use repetition. A child learns through the process of habituation—the repetition of particular stimuli or experiences. His memory lengthens and he associates behavior with consequences. Start each day by reminding your child that “This is the day that the Lord has made,” so that he focuses his thoughts on the Lord. Establish the routine of a daily quiet time early. See Quiet Time Box on my personal website for an example of what I did with my kids and now my grandkids.

* Thinking is a learned skill. Children will have thoughts, but do they really know how to think? They need to be taught how to think and reason and make good decisions. Allow your kids to think for themselves. Don’t give the answers right away. Ask questions to help them reason out solutions. This helps them train their imaginations and discipline their minds, enabling them to think about God. When they start the “whys” turn their questions around to help them reason the answer—before you’re driven to “Because I said so!”

* Memorize bible verses.Tape a Scripture verse on the bathroom mirror or beside your child’s morning cereal bowl. My husband started doing this for our children while they were in grade school. By the time they were teens he was leaving them full page letters with passages to meditate on during the day.

* Surround your child with things of the Lord. Hang pictures of Bible characters and events in your child’s room. Provide games, music, and activities that teach them biblical truths. As they grow older, monitor their music, reading material, and room decor.

* Remember every child is a unique. One child might have more concrete, black and white thoughts, while another reacts from emotions and feelings. One child can quickly come to a logical conclusion and another must repeat the thinking process. Pay attention to such clues and reason with each child according to how he thinks and processes information.

Guiding what goes into your child's mind will help reach his heart for God.

Controlling Thoughts during the “Monster Season.”

It’s Halloween season, and the stores are filled with ghouls and goblins. Several moms have shared with me that their young kids have nightmares after a shopping trip, so I would like to offer an alternative. Have your children dress up as their favorite Bible character. Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. 3 John 1:11

I’m giving away copies of My Bible Dress Up book here and another five on The Spiritual Mom blog to the first five moms who leave a comment about how they help their kids focus on God.

Sign up for Carla’s The Spiritual Mom Free E-zine for FREE Mom screen saver and inspirational articles, tips, and resources. This month’s theme Taking Our Thoughts Captive.