There is a Scripture that gives me pause each time I come across it. It’s found in Ephesians 6:4b and it’s speaking to how we ought to raise our children:
but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (AMP)
The part that resonates with me today is “instruction of the Lord.” When I read that, I wondered what might the “instruction of the Lord” look like in day to day life in our parenting? Immediately Luke 6:40 comes to mind:
A student is not superior to his teacher; but everyone, after he has been completely trained, will be like his teacher. (AMP)
One way to become like our teacher, Jesus, is to ask questions! In Patreon 34 Lead with Questions in Parenting with Stacy Bellward, she notes how Jesus asks over 300 questions in the Bible . . . and those are just the documented ones. I can’t imagine how many other questions He asked in daily conversation.
Questions are powerful.
In Ten Date Night Questions, I wrote about one simple way Mark and I make date night more special: when we each come prepared with one question. It works the same way with our family dinner as well!
But sometimes in the rush of going through school work and prepping dinner, I run out of inspiration or energy to thoughtfully prepare intentional questions. Have you experienced the same thing?
I want to make this an easy “plug and go” for each of us! Here are five dinner table questions to get you started. You can pass this printable around the table, or write numbers 1-5 on pieces of paper and have each family member draw which questions they will answer, or any other creative idea you have to carry this through.
In this way, we turn our hearts and attention toward one another and teach our children to train their affections to love questions and curiosity and listening and sharing. This is a healthy way to model close-knit relationships which will benefit them in friendships and perhaps with their own families in years to come! More importantly, questions are close to the heart of God, as Jesus modeled for us. I hope this exercise invites us all to reflect Christ around our dinner table.
Enjoy!
Laura
