Growing Hearts for God

It’s a joy to watch these little guys grow in faith. They’ve each spent a weekend with us recently.

The day this photo was taken, Cadence had spent the night. On Sunday morning, we went to church, then out for lunch before heading out to his cousins’ birthday party (Ayden and little sister Carly, our granddaughter, share July birthdays, and usually, they share the celebration, too). 

While we were at the table, the conversation turned to superheroes–Cadence is big on superheroes. Cadence prefaced some comment with, “Oh my God!”

I said to him, “God’s name is holy, and Jesus’ name is holy, so we only say those names when we’re talking to them or about them.” He looked at me soberly, pondering my words.

Then suddenly he exclaimed, with some alarm, “We forgot to thank Jesus for the food!” We agreed that saying “thank you” after we’d eaten was better than not giving thanks, so Papa Rich said grace then and there.

I thought about the previous weekend, when Ayden had been our houseguest. As we were on our way to church on that Sunday, he announced, “I love church!”

And this grandma’s heart was gladdened.

4 We will not hide these truths from our children;

we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about His power and His mighty wonders.
5 For He issued His laws to Jacob;
He gave His instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting His glorious miracles
and obeying His commands.
Psalm 78:4-7 (NLT)