Washed over by moving water and filled with beauty is the Forget-Me-Not. These gentle blue blooms with orange centers bloom in the spring and then again as the season develops. These little gems never give up. If the water moves or other plants start to take over space, the Forget-Me-Not moves along. You think it’s quietly gone and yet, there it is again in a new place shyly blessing you with beauty.

I sometimes think this is what happens to our littlest angels in church and education programs. We baptize, christen or dedicate and then we quickly forget them. At whatever age religious education classes begin, they reappear in all their beauty. Open and giving, these little ones bring their wonder and awe to God and to us.

Watching families struggle with young children and watching our faith communities disconnect public recognition of the child and our daily living as a community, is what helped me to write and offer Baby Praise and Toddler Praise. These are easy ways to bring families together around their shared journey as exhausted parents of the under three crowd.

What is your faith community doing for children birth through 3 years old? Check out Baby Praise and Toddler Praise on this website. The little ones are just saying “Forget-Me-Not” to their faith community. Are we listening?

In nature, patterns are obvious. They are used for survival. Patterns catch food and water for both animals and plants. Think of the shape of the spider web and how the pattern is part of survival. Think about flowers whose blooms catch dew in the early morning. Patterns are integrated wholly into creation.

For us, patterns are also important. Daily patterns keep us healthy in body, mind and soul. So what are some of the faith patterns that keep us healthy, lifelong faith-filled people?

Prayer is the first thing that comes to mind. Prayer is interesting because most people will say they do pray because they pray before bed or meals. I wonder if we “do” prayer or if our lives “are” prayer. We pray continually for those we love and know. We pray not just before the meal but also, through the meal. We pray at bedtime but also at waking, resting and exercising. We pray for safe passage in our cars, in the bus and subway and in an airplane. Prayer is a faith pattern that helps us survive and thrive moment by moment.

We will explore more faith patterns, but today, just think about prayer in your life. Is it something you check off the family “to do” list or is it a moment by moment pattern in the life of your family?

Mimi Doe in her book Busy But Balanced does a wonderful job talking through the transition into school in September. She lists 10 ways for Parents to Help Teachers do Their Jobs (page 169). The assumption here is that children are going away from home for school. Does it change when Mom or Dad is the teacher? Where are God and the child in this transition into school year?

I’ve lived all over the United States. In some places school starts the second week of August and in some places it starts the 2nd week of September. When you only have your own school district as a reference all of a sudden there is an intensity brought on by school supply lists, new clothes advertising and bus schedules. You know the routine because it’s on the news, in magazines and newspapers and every retail store. Transition back to school is big business.

Home schools don’t have to worry about outside needs for the first day of school. Home schools can begin when a child is ready. A parent can tell when the bloom of summer is over and a child is ready for a new schedule. It may be in the heat of late August or it may be the shorter days of Sept. The transition is based on the child and family not a huge organizational institution.

Smooth transition into the home school schedule can involve the children in organization. Helping to unpack school supplies and books give children a sense of involvement and responsibility in their own education. The transition is guided by the innate sense of wonder and awe in a child rather than a list of wants and needs.

How is your transition into home schooling going? Where is God present in a child’s innate wonder at learning new things?

One thing I’ve learned as a grandparent is that I tire more easily. I am honest with my busy grand kids when it is rest time for grandma. The kids are great and as one once told a total stranger, “I love Grandma, but she tires easily” Ha, ha!

A discussion ensued about if REAL tires wore out. Those of you who have grand kids definitely get the change of subject issue. Well, of course, we agreed as a multi-generational group, we replace worn tires. Silence ensues. “But we’re not replacing Grandma, she’s good for the whole road.”

As grandparents, we know better than the grand kids how many possible perils are on the entire road of life. But the gift of being a grand parent is that long after our tires are worn down, we roll along in the lessons and messages we’ve shared with our grand kids.

Call, email or send a card today to tell those grand kids you love them! Let them know you are still on the journey with them to become people of faith.

As people of faith we bring a point of view to our world. Some people chose to have the blinds shut and see no one else. Their faith is closed off from new experiences and relationships. They are the center of their world and feel there is nothing else to learn.

Others faith followers choose to turn the blinds down. All theses faithful folks see is the activity of other humans. It’s easy to fall into the habit of comparing ourselves on the “inside” with those on the “outside”. We are hidden behind our half drawn blinds.

When the blind is opened fully, we get the best light. We see human creation in the context of God’s creation. In and out are brought together. No secrecy, just openness to all there is to experience and learn. In and out are brought together as mutually necessary and good in God’s world.

Are the blinds in your faith life shut or open to the light and all that you can see?

It’s been said that one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure. The same can be said about weeds. Some people would call many of the things I carefully tend as weeds. A flower carefully tended by another might be one I pull up daily. The one thing that is true about weeds, even if they are hard to identify they are quite stubborn.

Where are your faith weeds?

Sometimes we get a habit in our faith life that isn’t too easy to pull out. It’s an unwanted habit like unwanted weeds, and it just keeps returning. This habit is stubborn and keeps returning over and over and over.

For me, this habit is a vision of the world where I am the center. When I seem to be using the word “I”, there is a mantra I use at the end of each sentence. At the end of every sentence I say, “It’s not about me”. Using the words, “It’s not about me” helps me refocus away from myself. Headed to shop, I may start to think about all the things I want. By refocusing and saying, “It’s not about me,” I become more open to what God needs me to do. That may be opening a door or helping someone on the escalator. I might say no to a “want” and yes to the needs of others.

What stubborn weeds are in your faith garden?