What Are We Forming ?

Today’s Reflection

FORMATION COMES as a function of time, practice, and symbol. Some families are forming sports fans. Some are spending lots of time outside hiking and biking, practicing habits of recycling. We form our families by the ways we spend our time, our regular habits, and the symbols that repeat themselves on our clothing and refrigerator magnets.

Yet choosing to form our children spiritually seems more intimidating, more difficult and abstract. For many parents, spiritual formation sounds like a burden, an impossibility, a task for which they feel unqualified. But the same practices that form a die-hard Hoosier or a politically astute child — family time, regular practice, and concrete symbols — can convey Christian tradition and spirituality to our children with equal joy and lasting effect. As we engage in spiritually forming one another, family members spend time together with God, develop spiritual practices, and incorporate Christian symbols into our lives.

– Kara Lassen Oliver
Passing It On