Family Night - necessity

Some family nights are planned well in advance as there are certain stories and values I know I want to instill in my children. There are however some family nights that I plan out of complete necessity. This week we had one of those.

My children are sometimes one of the greatest mirrors I have into my own spiritual life and journey. I see own attitudes, behaviors and reactions reflected in what they do and say. That being said, one of the spiritual lessons that comes up regularly in our house is the impact our words have. Words are a BIG deal in our lives and as one of my friends says, "My mouth doesn't get me in trouble it keeps me there!" Oh how my words have such power in my life and the lives of those around me.

This week we focused on our attitude and our words being respectful. The virtue of the month at church is respect and we are continuing that here at home for the greatest application. Family night was pretty simple this week. We talked about our words and how often our words can hurt people and show either respect or disrespect. The girls have already memorized three verses on words/attitudes. They are as follows,

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. - Prov. 12:18

Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. - Prov. 16:24

Do everything without grumbling and complaining. - Phil. 2:14

Throughout the summer we focused on some Proverbs and had done this activity with toothpaste talking about the fact that once words are out they can't be put back in. (Squeeze out toothpaste and try to have them put it back in.)

This week in conjunction with our bug week (Letter B preschool focus) we talked about the grumble bees. We read and watched Hermie and friends Grumble Bees and we started to use a chart to keep track of our "honey" words. Right now I just catch them in the act of kind words and give them a sticker to put on the chart but may change it because they are still having too many unkind words for my liking.


That's it, simple and timely. My own life is always in need of a refresher course in how I can use my words for good or harm.