As I searched through the songs on the Seeds of Worship CD I found one of my favorite verses, Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I so want my kids to know and believe God’s love for them. This verse-song is on the Seeds of Courage CD and at first I thought, “What does that have to do with courage?” But think about it–how different would you live your life if you knew NOTHING could come between God and His great love for you. It would be easy to stand firm and in strength during all occasions.

The first thing I thought of when listening to this song was one of our favorite books! I got this book as a review on my personal blog a year ago and it has barely left the kids’ bedside tables since. It’s called God Loves Me More Than That by Dandi Daley Mackall.

The story is really a little boy asking questions about God. He asks how big God’s love is, how wide, how loud, how soft and how deep. It’s absolutely beautiful. The questions are answered in measurable kid-friendly descriptions. The illustrations are modern and so realistic–but whimsical and childlike, too.

It’s gorgeous and a go-to book for us. So, I was excited to find a song to go along with it. Then I realized—wait a minute, that’s not the same verse! The book is based on Ephesians 3:17-19,

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Oh, well! So much for lining things up perfectly! But guess what? This is still a perfect connection! Here are two verses that talk about God’s great love for us! What a fun activity you could put together for your kids with this book, the Seeds song, a few heart shaped crafts and a group hug!

It’s easy to impress your kids! Use books, songs, crafts and whatever is at your fingertips to them show God’s great love!

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If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered in our Seeds Family Worship CD giveaway. And if you do THIS activity with your kids, blog it and leave the link on our MckLinky, you’ll get FIVE additional entries! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, see our Ultimate Blog Party intro page!

Want more great book suggestions? click over to Feed Me Books Friday at The Adventure of Motherhood!

Today, at the “northern”-most Impress Your Kids household, my boys were not having anything to do with anything I wanted to do.  It didn’t matter to them that I wanted to teach them something special about God – it didn’t matter to them that I wanted to write a blog post about it.  They had their own agenda for the day.  So what is a mom to do when her children don’t want to be impressed in anyway?

Turn on some Seeds Family Worship music and have a dance party!  You don’t even have to have a dance party (in fact, I was the only one dancing – the others were rolled up in a ball on the floor or running away from me) – just turn the music on! The whole Seeds library is great to have on as you go about your day.  While we’ve talked about how great these CDs are, we haven’t really talked about the quality of the songs yet.  They are good.  Seriously – coming from a music background, and thinking that a lot of Christian music is cheesy – I love these CDs.  I have not gotten tired of them yet – and we listen to them a lot!  The lead vocals are done both by a man and a woman on different tracks, and frequently there are children singing in the background or singing the Scripture references.  And even with the children singing, I still don’t think the CDs are cheesy!  They are so well done.

If you do want to have a dance party, might I recommend Seeds of Courage?  Very up-beat danceable music on that one… looking for a more relaxing CD to play on a car trip? Seeds of Faith would fit the bill – nice and melodic, with catchy tunes, but not too bouncy, if you know what I mean…

And my history with Seeds Family Worship?  I got these CDs (volumes 1 through 4) way back when Elias was 18 months old, because I wanted to have songs with pure Scripture playing so he could soak up God’s word.  At 18 months, he started singing along with the CDs – some of the simpler, more repetitive songs.  And now he sings along with most of the songs (of course, not when I try to get some video of him doing it.  Then he stops. And runs away.).

And I’ve learned so much Scripture, too!  The songs are catchy and repetitive (again, not annoyingly so), and I find myself singing them throughout the day.  Today when we had our “dance party,” the song that kept going through my head was “Do Everything in Love,” from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be men of courage, be strong. Do everything in love!” And as my children broke down in fits around me, I heard “Do EVERYTHING in love, do EVERYTHING in love, do EVERYTHING, do EVERYTHING, do EVERYTHING… in love!” With that verse ringing through my head, my reaction was one of love – not of rage, as my flesh cried out to force the kids do what I wanted them to do.  I sat down with the child balled up at my feet and hugged him, thinking that we’ll just do my activity later.  Then I got up and danced!

The more you listen to it, the more God’s Word sinks in.  You never know – you just might hear your 4 year old walking by singing, “John eight one, John eight one two, John – eight – TWELVE! Jesus said I am the light of the world...Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have… the light of life, the light of life!”

Music in the background?  It canNOT get any easier to impress your kids than that!

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If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered in our Seeds Family Worship CD giveaway. And if you do THIS activity with your kids, blog it and leave the link on our MckLinky, you’ll get FIVE additional entries! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, see our Ultimate Blog Party intro page!

Picture by peta since my kids would not have their pictures taken today.

So what is a mom to do when her children don’t want to be impressed in anyway?

I turned on the CD Seeds of Courage tonight while we were eating dinner. Lydia is always working on being brave and strong. So, these are scriptures she needs to hide in her heart! The very last song, Do Not Fear is from Isaiah 41:10:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

If you knew the complete and utter fearful meltdown we had with Lydia on Saturday, you would understand why just listening to this song brought tears to my eyes! I was thinking about doing some role-playing with this verse because role-playing really seems to bring up a lot of questions and scenarios for us to talk about. I was actually going to write a social story type thing with her about being afraid and remembering this verse.

As we were listening to the song at dinner, I said, “Lydia this is the song we’re going to do an activity about!” And I told her the words as they sang. Her eyes got big when I said “Do not fear” because she knows we talk about this all the time. Then she said, “What’s a righteous right hand?” She’s a leftie and is really into right and left hands!

So, I pantomimed holding my hand out and pretending there was a little person inside. Then I closed my hand and covered them up. She thought this was hilarious! She grabbed a napkin, wadded it up and put it in her hand. She pretended to be God and protect that napkin. Then we had an even better idea! We took her gummi bear vitamins and let them be Lydia-Bear and Asa-Bear. We had Lydia-Bear and Asa-Bear get scared and run around our hands. Then we closed our fists tight to protect them. She was having SO much fun! (Especially when I dropped Lydia-Bear and asked her if that’s what God would do. She said “Noooo!”)

As she played with her gummi vitamins and had them dance to the song (I put it on repeat), I grabbed the video camera. She finally started dancing and singing in our living room. Then we made up motions/dance to the song.

So do not fear hold both hands to mouth like you’re biting your fingernails in fear
for I am with you take both hands down and place on heart
do not be dismayed shake hands  in front of you like you are very upset
for I am your God. jump up and shake hands in the air as if motioning to God
I will strengthen you make big muscles with both arms
and help you scoop flexed arms in front of you like you just helped someone up
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. make a big muscle with right arm and point to your closed fist with your left hand
Isaiah 41:10 hold up 4 fingers, then 1 finger and then 10

It was such fun and also made me cry. I can’t wait for that little seed to grow in her life. I’m even excited for the next time she gets scared and then pictures Jesus holding her in the palm of his hand–his strong, helpful arms, His righteous right hand.

Impressing your kids with God’s Word doesn’t always take a detailed lesson plan, an intricate craft or a lot of preparation. Sometimes it’s just going with what your kids like and what the Holy Spirit quietly speaks to you.

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If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered in our Seeds Family Worship CD giveaway. And if you do THIS activity with your kids, blog it and leave the link on our MckLinky, you’ll get FIVE additional entries! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, see our Ultimate Blog Party intro page!