The Things I'm Learning: It's the Same Book... Again

I don't know about your kids, but ours like to read every night. We let them each pick out one book and then we read a Bible story out of The Jesus Storybook Bible. {Side Note: If you don't have / haven't read / haven't seen this Bible, please check it out. It is great for kids!}

Since Christmas, our sweet Kaden has been asking to read the same book almost every night. It'sThe Berenstain Bears Kindness Counts. I love that the boys love these books because of the great messages in them (plus they were my favorites at their ages which is cool), but last night, I wasn't very excited about reading this book for the 25th time.

As I started reading the book again, Kaden would finish some of the sentences. He's only three so he can't read, but he remembered the exact words from the book. Later, this turned on a light bulb in my head:

I think about my own life and the repetitiveness in it. The constants in it. Regardless of the day, I spend time talking to my husband, listening to him and spending time with him. I spend time talking to the boys, listening to them and playing with them. I spend time exercising to get faster, stronger and healthier. I spend time cooking. I spend time praying and reading God's Word. I spend time learning about what others are doing in my profession.

I do them all because I want to be better. I want to be a better wife, Anna Belle, runner, Christian, cook, and marketer. I want to continue getting to know my husband and our boys better {this may sound like I don't know them; you know what I mean.}. I want to improve. And repetition helps us all to improve.

To get to the heart of this matter, it's repetition that helps us get to know our Father better. Just as Kaden can recite the words to most of this book, the boys are learning to recite Bible stories. I can't tell you the amount of joy I receive when I hear them asking for their Bible story each night. I can't explain the way I feel when K.C. is able to find the next story and answer questions about the last one. I can't tell you how proud I am when I ask about the Hero {the word used to describe Jesus in most of The Jesus Storybook Bible}and the boys reply that He's Jesus.

You see, repetition is a beautiful thing. It's through reading more and more about Our Savior, saying our prayers out loud for the boys to hear and hearing their sweet voices add in things they're thankful for each night that causes them to grow, and really, causes me to grow. I can see God's hand working in their lives and giving them a desire to know Him. And it's a beautiful thing.

As a parent, besides the obvious things like giving the boys the love, food, clothing, and home they need, I consider telling and teaching them about Jesus the most important thing. In the end, our love of family and Christ is all that really matters. It's what keeps us strong when the world is falling apart around us, it's what allows us to share love and joy we feel with others and it's what leads and guides us in the ways we should go. In reality, I'd be doing them a huge disservice to not take them to church, to not read them the Bible and to not pray with and for them. I don't want to be that person. I want them to see the joy and love I have in my life because of my relationship with Christ and I pray that this same joy and love is contagious and they want it for their lives.