What Stories Will Our Children Tell?
by Cynthia S. Fischer
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea….” Psalm 46: 1-2
We are all familiar with our grandparents’ proverbial versions of growing up: trekking five-miles, round-trip, up a snow-covered mountain to school; waking in the middle of the night to stoke the fire with log;, or anxiously waiting days before hearing from a loved one by mail.
The children in our midst are forming their stories as well—stories of living in a pandemic. I wonder what they will share? Will their stories reflect God’s grace toward them? Or will they tell stories of loneliness and despair. Will you and I be part of their stories?
When this pandemic dwindles, which at best would be sometime toward the end of 2021, we will have many children who will have lost a beloved grandparent. How will they tell that story?
We will have children who endured unending stomach aches because the air in their homes was filled with curse words and slammed doors. How will they tell that story? Or perhaps, having missed out on school breakfasts and other meals, they were so very hungry. That will be a hard story to hear in the land of plenty.
Some children will have spent a summer RV traveling or bubbled with another family who had children their ages. They may have developed their own pizza recipe, learned to grow tomatoes, or play the piano. I can imagine the wonderfully crazy stories they would share. But it is likely that far more children will have difficult stories to tell.
The body of Christ is called to be part of these stories. We are called to care for “the least of these” and that certainly applies to the children we know who live in challenging environments. We are not social workers, or counselors (at least not most of us) but we are the hands and feet of Jesus. God is calling us to be part of the Covid story for the children among us. What are ways that we can shape their story during this pandemic? I will begin with an obvious, practical way to step into our children’s lives.
Listen and Observe
It’s easy to ask children questions that have monosyllabic answers:
“How is school going?” “OK.”
“Do you miss your friends?” “Yes.”
“Do you get to see any friends?” “No.”
“Are you keeping up with your schoolwork?” “I guess.”
As you can see, these answers yield little information. It is better to ask:
“Who do you ask for help with your homework?” “ I don’t have anyone who will help me.”
“What kind of computer do you have?” “A PC but it’s missing a few keys.”
“I like to cook for busy families. Do you have a favorite food I could make for your family?” “I love spaghetti.”
Questions such as these, asked over time, will elicit a clearer picture of what a child may need that you or your church group could pray for or supply. If God’s Spirit is nudging you to act on behalf of a family’s needs, pursue that. Don’t turn your back on the children in your church and community.
Teach Stories of God’s Presence and Rescue
The children in our churches and homes need to know that when no one else is intervening in their life, God is with them. God knows what is going on. Because we are human, there are times when we will fail our children both as parents, and as members of the local body of Christ. While this is never our intent, we may not be aware of the struggles some of our children face. And because this is a broken world, there are children who are not being protected or supported as they should be. God’s Word is filled with stories of his presence and protection that the children among us should hear.
One of my very favorite Bible stories is only a few verses long but it captures our God as the one who never misses what is going on in our lives. He sees it all. In Genesis 16, Sarai and Abram are tired of waiting for God to provide the long-promised covenant child. Sarai tells Abram to take her servant Hagar and have a baby with her. This is a very awful idea but Abram goes along with it. Hagar becomes pregnant and gloats about this in front of Sarai. Sarai becomes angry and Hagar flees from their home and runs to the desert. Single and pregnant Hagar has no one to help her. She is without food, water, or shelter. Left alone she will die. Then the angel of the Lord appears and provides water for her. She confesses that God is the “God Who Sees Me.” El Roi. The angel instructs her to return home and submit to Sarai.
No matter how much children are struggling with being at home during Covid, no matter how great their losses, God sees them. Our children need to know that God sees them in all of their circumstances. He sees when they are mistreated, he sees when they are bored, he sees them when they cry their hearts out because they have lost a dear family member to Covid.
I know this to be true in my own life. I believed God loved me and saw me when I was a youth full of anxiety and fear. This truth allowed me to continue to follow him even when I saw no way out of my dark hole. Children are not too young to believe the truth that God sees them the way He saw Hagar. They can cry out to him like Hagar did. It is paramount that we tell our children the “Hagar” stories in the Bible. They are everywhere: Naomi, Joseph, David, and Paul, struggled with anxiety, fear, and doubt. Jesus was tempted and later crucified, but He was faithful and obedient to his Father.
A word of caution: I’ve taught refugee immigrant children who have seen their relatives shot in the countries from which they have fled. I’m very sensitive to the fact that I must handle God’s Word with great care in those situations.We need to be careful not to say that following Jesus and obeying his commandments results in ideal family environments. Even saying “God answers our prayers,” would be better taught as “God hears our prayers but there are times it seems that He doesn’t hear us.”
It may seem difficult for you affirm this truth to children because if God sees them, why doesn’t He always act on their behalf? We know that suffering can seem endless. That’s why we need God’s stories to remind us to trust, wait, and hope. I don’t have a full answer to “the problem of evil” except to say that much of God’s response is to be through you and me. It is wise and good if we tell children how to speak up for help in difficult home environments, but many will mostly endure their situations.
For so many at-risk children, it is only by God’s Word working through his Spirit and by you and me being involved in their lives that they will have stories of God’s intervention in this pandemic.
Memorize God’s Word
Parents as well as the Children’s Ministries in our churches would do well to encourage the memorization of Scripture for numerous reasons. In the context of this article, Scripture embedded in a child’s heart will rise to the surface when he or she is facing difficulties. In fact, God’s Word may be the only voice that encourages a child, the only hope they cling to when they have little or no support.
I prefer children learn a whole passage instead of one verse in order to broaden the context of what they are putting to memory, but a variety of verses can be helpful too. Psalm 46 is an excellent psalm reminding children that God is a “very present help in trouble.” The psalmist describes an earthquake in which God is not moved and wars that do not alter his eternal kingdom. In fact the psalm illustrates God’s power at controlling over nature and nations.
The psalm ends with the beautiful words,”Be still and know that I am God,” the very best response any of us can have to the turmoil within or outside us.
Psalm 23 is a beautiful psalm that most children learn at some point. It tells of God’s protection over us just as a shepherd protects his sheep. Psalm 91 is suitable for older children to memorize.
The next generation of children will likely wonder how school shutdowns could be so bad. They will try to fathom how being online all day or being home alone could be boring. They might not be able to imagine professional sports being played with empty stands or that entire teams were shut out not because of penalties or bad behavior but because of a virus.
I hope that when they hear stories of how God answered prayers for their parents who grew up during this pandemic that they will hear stories about the new friends they made with people from their church who brought food or played catch with them in the back yard. I hope they will hear stories of how their grandparents trusted God and saw his intervention in their families. I hope that these stories will lead the generation to come to faith in God our Father who gave his son Jesus for us. I hope that their parents’ stories will lead them to the greatest story ever told, the story of redemption and new life in Jesus Christ.