How To Teach Character By Honoring Godly Adults

In my previous post, I shared some ideas on How To Give Our Kids Godly Role Models. Today, I’m going to share with you a specific way we gave our kids godly role models, and were able to teach character by honoring godly adults. 

One day a lady from church brought us a meal, during a rough pregnancy I was going through. She had helped us often by watching the kids, taking me to the Dr. or bringing meals.  When she was leaving, she reminded us, “If there’s ANYTHING I can do to help you, please let me know.”

We thanked her, and after she left we started talking about what a servant she was, and how blessed we had been by her servant’s heart.  

Suddenly my husband and I had a light bulb moment! Right away, the words ROLE MODEL came to our mind! We thought it would be a great idea to “honor” adults that showed specific character traits, as this would be a good way to give our kids Godly role models.

We decided to invite the lady from church over and have a little celebration with the kids to honor her for her example of being a servant, and being a blessing to our family.

We talked to the kids about what a good example she was, and how she had been a blessing to our family, so we wanted to bless her in return. We had the kids write her nice little thank you notes, and we helped them prepare to sing a “Patch the Pirate” song that related to being a servant. (Give Me Lord a Servant’s Heart)

When she came over, we had a special celebration. The kids sang their song for her, and then my husband just said a few things about how thankful we were for all she did for us, and her example to our kids in the area of being a servant.

We gave her a certificate of appreciation, and a little gift I had bought for her with the kids’ help. Then the kids gave her their notes, and she read them one by one. Afterwards we had a little dessert, then enjoyed a time of visiting with her, and letting the kids get to know her a little bit better.

The next lady from our church that we chose to honor, was a midget. Being a midget caused her to have many health issues. She was on oxygen, and couldn’t walk. A friend who stayed with her and cared for her, brought her to church in a wheelchair. Even though she was in pain, and sick often, she was always smiling and cheerful.

Many people with conditions like her, would be likely to get bitter and be unhappy. However, she had shared in her testimony how she had learned to be content and joyful. We thought she would be another great person to let our kids meet, and get to know better.

We called and set up a time when we could come and visit her. We did much of the same thing, just with a different song. The younger ones were fascinated by her size, and we had prepared them ahead of time so they wouldn’t say anything awkward, like kids are known to do! We reminded them how easy it is to complain about things, when God wants us to learn to be content, which is a choice we make, just like this sweet lady had done.

We honored several other adults in the same way. One was for their perseverance during a hard time they were facing, another for their faithfulness.

It was exciting to see our kids talking to these adults at church. One adult laughed as he told me how our two youngest kids always made their “rounds” before church. They would go from adult to another, and talk with them. I LOVED that!  They were spending time with folks who were Godly and wise, and good examples for my kids. Honoring these adults for their example of character was a one time thing, but their influence continued in the lives of my kids.

This is a simple way of giving your kids role models, while also being a blessing to the ones you honor. Who can you introduce your kids to as a Godly role model?