Leading Your Kids To The Throne

Our bathroom redo is almost done, I'd say about 95%. What's left is the little details that you can't complete until you find "it", just the right wall hanging here, just the right something or other there. I was cleaning it this morning after getting myself ready for the day when I remembered a little mom trick of mine. Bathroom reading material. Over the years I realized I don't have those kinds of kids that read inspirational spiritual books just because they are placed in front of them. I've put Chicken Soup For The Teenager's Soul in Christmas stockings and daily devotionals into Easter baskets to no avail. Same for their dad, so I guess it's genetic. But men they are, and as such there is one place that they are a captive audience. The loo. It might be a coarse topic of conversation but it is a universal phenomenon that people like to read in the bathroom. I've been reduced to the backs of hair spray bottles myself. My mom trick is that I intentionally place reading material in there that I think would be good for them. Using this method I have exposed my menfolk God Chasers and God's Favorite House by Tommy Tenney. A few of the Left Behind books have shown up in there (until I myself couldn't stay interested, how could they?) Christian men's magazines, worship magazines. Probably some Chicken Soup over the years too. Not wanting to seem overly obvious I have also thrown catalogs and Dave Berry in there. Sound silly? Well let me tell you something, one of my kids asked me the other day where our copy of Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages was. "Not sure, why?" He was telling a friend about it and they wanted to read it. I asked him if he had ever read it? "Duh, yeah. It was in our bathroom for a month. I read the entire thing. I am the one that recommended it to her."

Ha!

So this is your free tip of the day, stock your bathroom with inspirational reading material. Your kid may refuse to speak to you about God, refuse to turn off the video games, refuse to hang up the cell phone or to even refuse to go to church. He or she will never refuse to use the bathroom.

How to use your bathroom for Jesus...

1. Choose easy to read and interesting books or they'll head for the shampoo bottles.

2. Mix in some fun stuff.

3. DO NOT have inappropriate reading material available. I mean Redbook, Cosmo...

4. Don't mention what you're up to. Let your kids see you reading those books around the house so when they wind up laying around they won't think you're setting them up. Don't even tell them what a good book it is, don't ask them if they've looked at it.

5. Read the book yourself first so if the opportunity arises, you can discuss it.

Joshua 3:9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.