Journeying spiritually with children

Edition three:
Journeying spiritually
with children
editions • Glimpsing God 1
Editions 3.indd 1 07/10/2015 16:45

Conversation 3 ­ Full Circle.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:29
Journeying spiritually
with children
conversation one
Journeying spiritually
with children
conversation two
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
welcome beloved
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
unless you become
Simply being born is the fundamental universal
experience which unites us with people of all
ages and cultures. No matter who we later
become, we all undergo a similar process
of emergence. Leaving the relative safety
of the womb, we are conveyed into a very
different environment where we intuitively seek
reassurance and comfort.
Psychologists inform us tha the quality of
welcome received by infants is highly significant
to their development, something that can
be reinforced or undermined by subsequent
experience. Providing a climate of love and
affirmation is the necessary bedrock of security
and self-worth which will carry a person forward
with confidence and hope into the rest of life.
Although we all grow up and may forget our
earliest memories, the child within each of
us remains. In seeking to journey spiritually
with children, then, perhaps we should remind
ourselves of the child we once were and still
are – still seeking assurance, love and hope in a
complex and challenging world.
Journeying spiritually
with children
conversation three
That simply all of life is sacred and significant is
deeply ingrained in Christian tradition, but so is
the notion that human persons, above everything
else, are infinitely precious to God. The words and
actions of Jesus as he welcomes a child brought
before him assures us that from our earliest
years we have inestimable value. Calling God,
‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ is to accept our stature as
beloved children of God – something which we
seek to realise in the way we live our lives.
This famous story also reminds us tha there is
a particular quality of being in these early years
of life from which we are invited to learn. This
being so, it is clear that accompanying children
spiritually is a two-way street. While we seek to
introduce them to a depth dimension to life, so
we ourselves must learn from them if we are
to refine our understanding of what it means to
‘become as little children’.
full circle
Conversation 2 ­ Unless You Become.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:28
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
Journeying spiritually
with children
conversation four
Many people speak of how their hearts have
been widened or stretched by the children in
their lives. Parents or grandparents, carers or
teachers, all have stories of how children and
young people have touched or changed them
for the good. In many ways they draw from us
a selflessness or even a heroism we would
previously have thought impossible.
Yet, paradoxically perhaps, children also remind
us of our own vulnerability and dependence.
They have a habit of taking us, both literally and
metaphorically, full circle… to the edges of life
where we come face to face with reality, exposing
all our best hopes and our worst fears. While
rejoicing in thresholds safely crossed, we may
also be touched by moments of all-consuming
grief – watching on helplessly in the face of
adversity and tragedy. How we respond to and
find meaning in these varied experiences is a
witness to love and faith from which the children
in our care will undoubtedly learn.
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
Journeying spiritually
with children
wisdom shared
Journeying with children implies deliberately
making time for the cultivation of relationship,
for the sharing of perspective and the building
of significance – something which cannot be
rushed. It also involves leaving some of our own
assumptions behind so as to sensitively enter into
their perceptual world. In doing so, often to our
surprise, we discover things we have forgotten,
or have neve really known, as we play and learn
together.
conversation six
In most forms of spiritual accompaniment,
the sharing of insight works both ways and, as
many would attest, conversations with children
can augment our understanding of the divine.
Through the questions they raise, the ideas they
hold and their insatiable curiosity, children both
challenge and illuminate.
How we, in turn, share what we have learned
abou the sacredness of life - through ritual,
prayer, stories and conversation - is highly
significant. By offering what we have discovered
while leaving space for other perspectives, we
invite the opening of minds and hearts rather
than the constricting alternative.
Journeying spiritually
with children
conversation six
Conversation 4 ­ Wisdom Shared .indd 1 07/10/2015 09:31
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
separate and together
Young people leaving home to establish
themselves as adults is the logical conclusion
of caring for children. Although we may not
have looked a things this way from the outset,
as time passes it becomes more apparent that
this is a goal towards which we must work. As
we approach the prospect, however, we discover
that preparing our children to leave also requires
significant personal adjustment in ourselves.
Although recognising its necessity, we are filled
with mixed emotions as the day nears.
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
Journeying spiritually
with children
separate and together
conversation seven
Young people leaving home to establish
themselves as adults is the logical conclusion
of caring for children. Although we may not
have looked at things this way from the outset,
as time passes it becomes more apparen that
this is a goal towards which we must work. As
we approach the prospect, however, we discover
that preparing our children to leave also requires
significant personal adjustment in ourselves.
Although recognising its necessity, we are filled
with mixed emotions as the day nears.
Negotiating departure is something we all have
to learn bu there is a sense in which we are so
bound up together with those we love that we will
always be both separate and together. Though
our young people leave, they also return to us at
intervals and establish a different relationship,
which later cycles of meeting and parting can
only mature. From our own perspective, the
whole experience ought, perhaps, to remind us
of our relationship with God with its seasons of
separation and return.
every child
Negotiating departure is something we all have
to learn but there is a sense in which we are so
bound up together with those we love that we will
always be both separate and together. Though
our young people leave, they also return to us at
intervals and establish a different relationship,
which later cycles of meeting and parting can
only mature. From our own perspective, the
whole experience ought, perhaps, to remind us
of our relationship with God with its seasons of
separation and return.
welcome beloved
unless you become
full circle
wisdom shared
growing pains
separate and together
every child
The Christian journey is one of growing
compassion, with our own personal and domestic
concerns being gradually drawn onto a wider
canvas. Caring relationships with children and
young people can act as a catalys to awaken
new vistas of awareness and commitment. If
this is what I want for the children close to me,
what abou the millions of others who are not so
fortunate?
We do not have to look far to see children born
into situations of abuse, war or injustice, whose
human rights (physical, emotional, psychological
and spiritual) are being systematically ignored,
or trampled. Faced with the enormity of the
problems we can feel powerless to help. Yet we
can learn to make a contribution by listening
again to the natural compassion and idealism
Conversation 6 ­ Separate and Together.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:32
passionately expressed by many of our own young
people. By letting them become our teachers in
generosity and practical goodness, we continue
to journey with them in building the promised
Kingdom of God on earth.
Conversation 6 ­ Separate and Together.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:32
Conversation 1 ­ Welcome Beloved.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:26
Edition three:
Journeying spiritually
with children
editions • Glimpsing God 1
Conversation 7 Every Child.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:33
To see life afresh through the eyes of a child, to be
challenged by their questions and invigorated by
their energy and sense of fun is surely a precious
gift in adult life. The selection of readings in these
booklets invite us to reflect on both the complexity
and the simplicity of a life lived with openness to
the perspectives of the young amongst us - from
the wonder of birth to the empty nest and beyond.
Journeying spiritually with children is the
third of a series of resource packs designed to
invite personal reflection and promote spiritual
conversation in a variety of settings.
We are grateful for the sponsorship of the
resource pack by Methodist Women in Britain who
suggested the overall theme and also contributed
to its production.
Forthcoming packs and Editions in the series will
include Soul at Work. Also available is Glimpsing
God and Aloneness.
Journeying spiritually with children is available
now for £10+p&p from
www.shorelineconversations.com
© Shoreline Conversations 2015
Published by Shoreline Conversations
Venture House
93 Telegraph Road
Heswall
Wirral CH60 0AE
w: www.shorelineconversations.com
e: info@shorelineconversations.com
Edited by Lynne Ling
e: lynne.ling@shorelineconversations.com
t: 07734 607486
Design by 25 Educational
w: www.base25.com
e: mark@base25.com
Editions 3.indd 2 07/10/2015 16:45

Edition three:
Journeying spiritually
with children
Welcome to our third issue of Editions, created to complement the conversation
packs we will be producing at regular intervals over the next few years.
r
y
i
a
Stephen Wright is used to working with adults in spiritual direction, but
talking about faith and life with his grandchildren is something different.
He reflects on this and invites us to remember adults who impressed and
helped form us when we were young.
Karen Turner tells us how a recurring Bible passage about Jacob’s ladder
gave her family comfort at a time of change and upheaval and then how
they established a novel prayer routine on the stairs of their new home …
Roz Stockley has been involved in introducing pupils and teachers in
primary schools to the practice of daily meditation as a whole school
activity. Her experience is that even children as young as four ‘get it’ quite
quickly and settle naturally and calmly into a time of silence together, with
marked effects on behaviour and learning.
Hannah Field, Mission Development Worker for Girls’ Brigade (GB)
England and Wales, works to ensure that GB groups are welcoming
places full of openness and expectancy, where it’s okay to ask challenging
questions, explore and simply be.
My second grandchild was born only a week ago, as I write this. I am once again,
as when my children were born, blown away by the experience of holding a tiny
baby and looking her in the eye and she looking in mine – searching me out.
Introducing the first of the conversation booklets that accompany this magazine,
Mark Davis writes: ‘psychologists inform us that the quality of welcome received
by infants is highly significant to their development’. I trust that as a second-time
nanny I will not only warmly welcome my granddaughter, but also be open to
what I learn in seeing the world afresh through her eyes.
We welcome your personal reflections and responses to the ideas we raise in
these pages.
Lynne Ling
Editor
editions • Journeying spiritually with children
e
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minding my own
LANGUAGE
Stephen Wright, spiritual director and grandfather, reflects on how his ‘god-talk’
conversations with his grandchildren challenge him to be authentic, to ‘walk the talk’
and to find language and stories that fit with the children’s real world experience
My 8-year-old granddaughter came home
from school and announced that there had
been an outbreak of mumps. “It’s God’s
punishment” she asserted. Moments like this
are opportunities for ‘God’ talk. Where did she get this idea
of a punishing God? What was God really like if not like
that? Is there ‘God’ at all? That’s how spiritual guidance
tends to work with kids; it has to be spontaneous. This can
be scary for grown-ups, pushing us into the difficult terrain
of doubt about our own beliefs and how to express them
before a child.
I’m used to working with adults in spiritual direction, but
children are a very different kettle of fish. They do not
process information or possess the personality structures
or life experiences of adults. Children tend to come at
things from a much more direct, uncluttered perspective.
They want to know, they want fixity and they want to work
it all out. A mature spirituality tends to leave behind black
and white articles of faith and can be anything but fixed and
certain. Explaining this to others, not least a child, can be a
tough call.
living in a way that is congruent with what
we say is true, mirroring those qualities of
the divine that we want children to know…
My children and grandchildren know something of my
religiosity – they’ve been to church with me, seen the books
I’ve written, shared grace at mealtimes. I resolved long ago
never to proselytise, but such a resolution from an adult
requires that we feel no need to make children believe
what we believe, that we are not afraid that they won’t get it
‘right’ without our instruction, that we trust God is at work
in them. God talk, when it comes up, can thus be part of
ordinary conversation.
When children raise those spiritual questions, such an
encounter is full of opportunity to edge them towards truth.
But the adult has to respond from a place of self-awareness
and clarity of intention; we bring all our unconscious and
conscious stuff into such encounters. The nature of our
relationship to the Beloved - the degree of love, trust, fear -
leaks into any adult-child discourse.
Perhaps one of the greatest services we can offer to
children in their spiritual formation is to get ourselves out
of the way, to put all our stuff to one side and seek to really
be with the child, to see the world from their point of view
and find language and stories that fit with the child’s real
world experience - not just ours. And to do so authentically
- ‘walking our talk’, speaking and living in a way that
is congruent with what we say is true, mirroring those
qualities of the divine that we want children to know. Indeed,
to children we are Gods, but they also have the knack of
sussing out hypocrisy and deception. Truth is sabotaged
when we speak of a loving God, then behave brutally.
It is common in spiritual direction to meet people seeking
the reality of God who are blocked by unhealthy projections
onto God acquired from parents during childhood. One
woman I met was frightened by God – to her a remote
male figure always ready to punish if she ‘failed’ him. Here
spirituality and psychology overlap - for in exploring her
relationship with her father, guess what he was like?
Recently my 13-year-old grandson and I took off for a
holiday to Iona. I was reminded how ‘side to side’ moments
- in the car or walking the hills - provide a different milieu
for conversation. Facing outward rather than each other we
talked and talked over every aspect of meaning in life. The
ordinary moment cohabited by the young and old person
is full of potential for truth seeking. It’s always a mutual
process too; I find it hugely enriching to see faith and
myself, warts and all, through the eyes of children.
As for that incident with my granddaughter and the
‘punishing’ God, it made me much more circumspect about
church services. I have resolved not to expose any of my
grandchildren to language that tells them they are anything
but beautiful, precious and worthy and loved by God as they
are. To do otherwise would be a kind of child abuse.
It is worth reflecting on adults that impressed and helped
form us when we were young with their loving virtues.
Are they not with us still, and thus enjoying a kind of
immortality? We adults are doing the same now with the
adults of the future. Who we are and what we do now is
helping to form the legacy of Truth in them. That is the
measure of the responsibility we bear. How will they hold us
in their hearts long after we are gone?
r
Shoreline Conversations
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I find it hugely enriching
to see faith and myself,
warts and all, through
the eyes of children.
Stephen Wright works with
organisations developing the
practice of healing, spiritual care,
conflict resolution and staff support.
He is an ordained interfaith minister
and spiritual director and brings a
rich experience of spiritual practice
from many faiths to his work.
The Sacred Space Foundation,
Fell End, Mungrisdale,
Cumbria CA11 0XR
t: 01768 77983
w: www.sacredspace.org.uk
e: jeannie@sacredspace.org.uk
editions • Journeying spiritually with children
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When grandparents come to visit,
they join us on the prayer stair
because that is what we do.
y
Shoreline Conversations
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PRAYING
as a family
Halfway up the stairs of their new manse, a mysterious little cupboard
gave Karen Turner the idea of a new family routine…
I
went on a wonderful retreat when my youngest son was
18 months old. It was very hard to leave him, but to be
honest it was also amazing to enjoy some solitude and
some silent time with God.
When I returned, however, I realised that my experience felt
strangely disconnected from the rest of my life. I came to
the conclusion that I didn’t want to have the kind of spiritual
life that was just waiting for the next retreat (however good
they may be). I wanted my spiritual life to be about all of
my life and to include the people that I live with. In fact, I
wanted my family to be a bit like a monastic community.
Why not? Aren’t families what monasteries are modelled on,
after all?
I know that all families and households are different, but
in our case there are four of us, and our boys are 9 and 12.
Several years ago when we were in the process of moving to
where we currently live, there was a Bible passage that kept
popping up. You know how that sometimes happens?
It was the story of Jacob’s dream of a ladder connecting
heaven and earth in Genesis 28 .In that time of upheaval and
mourning and change, it comforted us, reassuring us that,
even if it didn’t feel like it, God was with us in that place.
‘Wherever you go,’ God says to Jacob, ‘I will watch over you’.
As we explored our new home, one of the things we first
noticed was that the house had a relatively large landing
halfway up the stairs with a mysterious little cupboard in the
wall. Almost immediately, I think, we thought that it could
become a kind of prayer corner for us in this house and we
called it the ‘prayer stair’.
Our boys, then both primary school aged, chose what colour
to paint the inside of our cupboard on the prayer stair and
then they did the painting. We talked about what we would
do there and how we would do it .We filled the cupboard
with things that we thought would help us to pray: Bibles,
books, a candle, holding crosses, pictures and a chalkboard
where we could write the names of those we wanted to
remember.
We don’t have a set-in-stone formula that we use, although
we usually have a Bible reading taken from a lectionary and
we usually choose one of several ways to pray together out
loud. Sometimes we use liturgies and set forms of prayer.
Occasionally the boys take the initiative to lead what we
do – either by typing up their own liturgy or even by making
a PowerPoint. We’ve sometimes listened to a song or
sometimes have sung one.
This happens most nights but not all nights, for various
reasons. It could be that one of us has to rush out for a
meeting or someone calls round. Sometimes the boys
complain about going on the prayer stair. I should be quick
to say that the prayer stair only happens most nights
because my husband is quite good at keeping us to it –
I tend to be more forgetful.
Just in case I’m painting a very pious image in your mind,
I should also say that it sometimes happens that one of
us gets the giggles, and, catching as they are, it has been
known for us all to laugh until tears run down our faces.
This, too, can be a gift. (And to be honest, some parts of the
Bible are really funny.)
We filled the cupboard with things that
we thought would help us to pray.
The most surprising thing to me about our prayer stair
tradition is the people who have joined us there. When
grandparents come to visit, they join us on the prayer stair
because that is what we do. There isn’t usually another time
during their visit when we pray together so this has felt
really precious.
We recently had some young people from a former youth
group visiting. They joined us on the prayer stair. It was a
bit of a squeeze. Even babysitters and our children’s friends
have joined us on the prayer stair. I think it doesn’t feel
weird because it has become normal for us.
When storms rage outside or within us, the prayer stair
offers a moment of sanctuary that we are sometimes able
to accept. At times this has felt life-saving.
It may be that the prayer stair pattern won’t work so
well when our children are teenagers, or if we move to a
different house, but whatever form our prayer takes, I hope
it will be as normal a part of our lives as the stairs that we
walk up and down each day.
editions • Journeying spiritually with children
u
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of children
and christian
meditation
Roz Stockley explains the benefits of children’s regular meditation times
Children are natural contemplatives so if we
encourage them to be still and open their hearts
to the divine love within, they will have a gift to
last the rest of their lives. Sowing the seed of
meditation in the young child allows God do the work of
God and provides the foundation for paying attention, which
is love 1 .
Why is it that children understand about Christian
meditation, when it may take a lifetime for adults to find this
out? You would be amazed that children as young as four
‘get it’ quite quickly, without the agonising and prevaricating
that often haunts their older relatives, friends or teachers.
After being introduced to the mantra, or prayer word, which
is to be repeated throughout the silent time, children settle
into this silence naturally and calmly. There is no objective,
we tell them, but to spend time with Jesus. And that is what
they do – once a day, every day, in many Christian schools in
the UK and in 25 other countries throughout the world.
“Sometimes the children who benefit the
most are the children with special needs”
It was in 2005, through the initiative of Bishop Putney, in
Townsville Diocese, Australia, that all school children were
introduced to Christian meditation, following the practice
adopted by Dom John Main and, after his death, by The
World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM). Once
the practicalities had been worked out and the programme
implemented, it began to have a powerful transformative
effect on children. Through teaching the children the value
of silence in a very noisy and busy world and introducing
them to prayer that is not talking to God but listening to
him, the teachers began to notice the fruits of the spirit
(Galatians 5:22) – joy, peace, love, understanding, patience
etc. – developing in their students. This was alongside
improving academic performance. Moreover, the children
themselves began to understand that they were becoming
different through meditation. Praying together in this way –
Christian meditation is often called the prayer of the heart
– seemed to be developing community in a way that had not
been obvious before, where children become more aware of
the other and more considerate towards them.
Following on from this wonderful example, Meditatio, the
outreach arm of WCCM, adopted the practical principles
and developed a programme for introducing meditation
to primary school children in the UK and other countries.
This programme involves, as a general rule, introducing
meditation to all the school staff at one time, to enable
them to take it to the children themselves, at a time in the
school day where it is most appropriate. As a consequence,
it is a whole school activity, although year groups will
meditate for different time periods. The rule of thumb is
that each child will eventually meditate for one minute per
year of age, even though the start point can be as little as
one minute in total. The most common time to pray in this
way is after the lunch break, when children return to a
classroom bathed in gentle music and prepare to meditate.
A timer installed on the school server enables the start
and end of meditation to be selected by the teacher before
meditating so that all staff present can meditate with the
children.
Sitting together in meditation where there is no competition,
no judgement, children from all backgrounds or with special
needs are equal in this genuinely inclusive practice. Some
of the children come from very difficult backgrounds; some
are unduly pressured by parental expectations of academic
success, but no matter what their background is, it seems
that all benefit from periods of silence and stillness and
enjoy the opportunity of building a relationship with Jesus
through silent prayer.
Of course, introducing children to meditation in school is
not the only pathway and grandparents, parents, First Holy
Communion and confirmation classes can help a child to
know the inner room of prayer. All it needs is the belief that
God is with them and that this silent time is a lovely place
to meet him. And as one school governor said “The child
probably knows far more than we know already … and it is
they who will teach us.”
1 Born Contemplative: Introducing Children to Christian Meditation,
Madeleine Simon
8 i
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“When you meditate you’re
straightaway at peace and that, in
turn, generates positive feelings:
feelings of kindness and goodness
and that really helps with the
children’s self-control,
perseverance and patience.”
Teacher, primary school, Luton.
Roz Stockley is the National Coordinator for WCCM
in the UK and Team Leader, Meditation with Children,
in the West Country.
For more information about Christian Meditation:
www.christianmeditation.org.uk
www.wccm.org
To enquire about Christian meditation with
children, email:
ukmeditationwithchildren@wccm.org
ukmeditationwithteens@wccm.org
editions • Journeying editions spiritually • Glimpsing with children God o 9
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eyes open
WIDE
Hannah Field is blessed by an encounter with openness and expectancy
that reminds her that “God has lots He wants us to see”
it’s important we recognise
the different needs and
passions of the children
10 a
Shoreline Conversations
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I’m not usually a fan of traffic jams. To be honest, I don’t
think they’re generally that keen on me either; especially
given their track record of occurring whenever I’m in a
hurry! Today though was different. Today, the traffic jam
brought a smile to my face. You see the queue had been
caused by people eager to get into church.
Over the past few weeks the Girls’ Brigade (GB) team has
been sharing in local schools about the opportunity for
children to join the adventure of exploring life and faith.
People had been praying that the youngsters would come
along to the group to find out more, and God certainly
answered in a massive way – in a way that was far
beyond anything that we had even dared to imagine. Our
expectations were blown away.
While we busily put out more paint pads, pom-poms and
packets of stickers, more and more children bounced
through the doors; their hearts, minds and eyes expectant.
We greeted them enthusiastically, looking forward to
revealing many new things to them, whereas actually, it
was to be them that revealed many new things to us. In
particular they revealed much about journeying spiritually -
and the importance of being open to God, as demonstrated
by this young child’s comment, whilst clambering through a
hoop: “Keep your eyes open wide – God’s got lots He wants
us to see.”
She, and her friends, were expectant.
It is a blessing to encounter openness and expectancy like
this. It is one of the great things about working for and being
a volunteer with GB, as week by week I have the privilege of
walking alongside children; of seeing God’s world through
new and fresh eyes; of exploring, imagining, hoping and
dreaming. It’s great to be able to journey and grow together.
After all, no matter who we are, or what our age, we are all
made in the image of God (Genesis Ch.1:26) and as shared
by Kathryn Copsey: ‘It is not just when a child begins to take
an interest in and respond to Christian teaching that he or
she suddenly develops spiritual qualities: they are within the
child from the moment of conception.’ 1 There’s lots that we
can learn from one another on this journey - and it’s often
the case that children have the best vantage point; pointing
out the things which I can so often fail to see! Children, after
all, are naturally inquisitive; they will dive in and explore,
pray the bold prayers and see afresh those things which can
so easily become over familiar.
Rebecca Nye explains how this helps the journey, as
‘Spirituality depends on our being open and willing to go
deeper;’ 2 . As a mission movement, working with and among
children, this is something that we at GB are passionate
about nurturing as we long to see people discover who
and whose they are; to discover life in all its fullness (John
Ch.10:10).
Volunteers work hard to ensure groups are welcoming,
where children are known, cared for and encouraged.
Places which are full of openness and expectancy,
where it’s okay to ask challenging questions, explore and
simply be. While groups have programme material to
follow, they are encouraged to see this, not as tasks to
be accomplished, but as tools to be used; to help unlock
potential and encourage discovery. According to Nye having
structure like this can help as: ‘So much of spiritual life
involves surprises, ambiguity, mystery and creativity, that
more and more children
bounced through the doors;
their hearts, minds and eyes
having a certain number of known reference points can
give us confidence to go farther and deeper.’ 3 A range of
experiences are needed.
Alongside this it’s important we recognise the different
needs and passions of the children. For some, they will
be helped in their spiritual journey through outdoor
adventures; boating, camping and searching for treasure.
For others, it’s the opportunity to simply sit on a bean-bag
and be still. It’s amazing how God reveals Himself and it’s
always helpful to remember He’s not limited by any of our
plans, programmes and approaches. As shown earlier, we
will indeed often have our expectations blown away.
And so, the next time that I’m in a traffic jam (most likely
tomorrow, M25 here I come), instead of pointlessly weighing
up which lane is likely to move the fastest, I will instead
smile. I will remember the spiritual lessons revealed by God
through children. I will keep my eyes open wide.
God certainly has got lots He wants us to see!
expectant
1 Kathryn Copsey, From the Ground Up: Understanding the Spiritual World of
the Child (Oxford: The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2005) p 24
2 Rebecca Nye, Children’s Spirituality: What it is and Why it Matters (London:
Church House Publishing, 2009), p. 49
3 Nye, Children’s Spirituality, p. 61
Hannah Field is Mission Development Worker for Girls’
Brigade England and Wales; working with churches,
schools and Girls’ Brigade Groups.
The Girls’ Brigade England & Wales,
Cliff College, Calver, Hope Valley,
Derbyshire S32 3XG.
t: 01246 582322
w: www.girlsb.org.uk
e: gbco@gb-ministries.org
editions • Journeying spiritually with children
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And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,
“Speak to us of Children.”
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
Kahlil Gibran
‘The Prophet’
12 Shoreline Conversations
www.shorelineconversations.com
© The Shoreline Consultancy 2015
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