Heart of a Torah Woman

Good morning ladies. How glorious is springtime? It is my favorite time of year.

This topic is near and dear to us. It often is on my mind. It can easily get super long so I will try to keep it shorter. I will revisit it from time to time.

For this, I am speaking about all the adults , not only about the parents. When we are in a congregation we all should be welcoming and engaging them. They are apart of the congregation too and set apart as well. Not just a side faction of it. Help them feel like they belong. The youth need it too. They are still being molded/impressionable and we can help make them feel this way of life is so much more natural and good. Are we being a good or a bad influence?

Please don’t forget the Sabbath and walking with God is not only for the adults. Yeah, we all know that academically but we need to be living it out. Our actions should mimic what we say we believe.

Unfortunately kids often get pushed aside, told to stay quiet, out of the way, given a million rules and expected to be on their best behavior at every second. Kids who do step out of line can quickly be met with scripture and told to be quiet or whatever else, including quite a bit of trouble . Yet, the same standards aren’t applied to the older people.

Poor behavior and words should be dealt with and try to get better to come out. I’m not saying ignore things that shouldn’t be.

Of course, honoring the Sabbath, behaving and being respectful is a must. However, they are still children. It is very easy to become bored while the adults fellowship and they have to leave them alone and occupy themselves. These are often the times the undesirable actions can come out.

Too often children are held to far higher standards that day. They see any division and discord. They hear arguing and bickering between their parents and the other adults. The adults holding ourselves to high standards as well and treating each other as we would want to be treated are good examples for them.

Don’t forget to engage the kids and older youth. Let them see the beauty and good in following God. Finding ways to include them, as much of an inconvenience it can be at times is so glorifying to God. It is well worth the sacrifice and effort. It needs to be so much more than just giving them scripture to memorize, even Satan can quote scripture so it needs to be deeper than that. This is just one example.

Everything in our actions should point to our Father and bring glory to Him. Yeshua should be seen through us. It can help the youth to want to walk with Him too.

Many kids have school throughout the week and many have at least one working parent and often both. The Sabbath is a fantastic time to connect, engage and show the awesomeness of Yah and this way. Far too often it becomes another day where they really aren’t allowed to do much and/or told to leave the adults alone. It can be another day they have to sit for long periods of time being quiet and out of the way. They can get bored and begin to question what is so great about their parents religion. It is far worse for them when they witness with their eyes and ears how the adults can be towards each other. It happens far too much and they are not oblivious to it.

Let’s be sure to give them rest too. Of course they do need to let the adults talk and behave while they do. That is not what I am referring to. It happens so frequently all the things I have mentioned. My husband lived it as a youth, we witnessed it together as well for over a decade. Helping them to see the beauty and goodness of all this is so important. They are still youth and haven’t experienced life much yet and very well might not have had their calling yet to fully commit. They are still kids.

Youth need to see God and Yeshua through all of us. We can also achieve that through engaging them and treating them with kindness.

How we treat each other and treat youth shows where our hearts are. We could very well turn youth away by not letting His light shine through us.

We tolerate adults who are not behaving and speaking well, of course it is difficult to with children who are misbehaving or having an attitude also. For some reason it can be easier to want to make youth get away from us but put up with adults who should be held to higher standards. Let’s tolerate (in the proper sense) youth who need to see the good and righteousness just as much as we would towards an adult as they grow too. It should go both ways.

There are many ways we can help the kids have a peaceful, restful and glorious Sabbath. Engage them as we enjoy fellowship. Ask them questions that engage but doesn’t feel like another test or quiz. Let them discuss some things too. Let them be near as you all grow together.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have times where the adults get to talk and the youth need to occupy themselves. Not at all. I’m just trying to bring to mind not to forget them. During messages and Bible study they have to keep quiet and do whatever it is they are to be doing. I created things that our kids could play with and learn from that they also used during this time. One of these days I will share pictures of the things I made. They loved them.

Let’s not forget that the Sabbath is for them too. Let’s not inadvertently set them up to not walk in His way when they are older. We can influence in such wonderful beautiful ways.