Dear Parents,
As we head into May, we will begin learning about The Book of Acts and The Holy Spirit in Kids@ The Ridge. The Holy Spirit is often confusing for kids to understand (and let's be realistic, confusing for adults to understand sometimes too). Here are a few thoughts that I have about sharing about The Holy Spirit with your kiddos.
When explaining The Holy Spirit to kids, in some areas it's good to embrace the mystery of God, whereas in other areas it's helpful to teach them about the friend we have in Him.
Try talking to your kids about the relationship we share with The Holy Spirit; when we choose to follow Jesus we are filled with the presence of God and God is with us. The Holy Spirit is God's presence with us. Each day we get to choose to listen to The Holy Spirit and learn from Him. We can learn from him by praying and he can give us wisdom, He can comfort us, and He shows us what is right. As we grow closer to Jesus, The Holy Spirit fills us with lots of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (we call these the fruit of the spirit). The Holy Spirit also gives us special gifts like being able to teach others (just like your Kids@ The Ridge teachers teach you), lead others (just like Pastor Brad leads the church), and show mercy (just like you do when you help those in need). Some other gifts are speaking in other languages so that we can share the good news about Jesus with people everywhere, having faith, and praying for people in need or for those who are sick. The Holy Spirit doesn't give everyone the same gifts but gives each one of us different gifts so that we can work together in loving others and sharing Jesus with them.
Sharing about The Holy Spirit is one thing, but how do we share about The Trinity? How do we help kids understand that God is three-in-one and not three separate gods? To start with, let's admit that we don't fully understand The Trinity, and so we can't fully explain to kids how God is three-in-one. Over the years I've heard several analogies (God is like an egg because an egg has the shell, the white, and the yoke. One egg with three different parts. Or, God is like water in different states, an ice cube, steam, and liquid. All water, but each having a different role). I think analogies can become confusing for kids because kids don’t usually have abstract thought until around middle school, and after all, God is neither an egg nor water. I think the better option would be to tell our kids that we don't understand everything about God. We know that he is three-in-one, that Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God the Father are in a relationship with each other, and that each has His own role and yet each is part of being one God. It's also ok to tell your kids that you don't know how this works and that sometimes God's knowledge is much bigger than ours. God is so much bigger than we can imagine, and it's beautiful to get to wonder about Him with our kids.
