Faith done well is more than a class, Sunday service or a cross hung on your necklace. It is a continual conversation with God. Sometimes that conversation comes easy; other times it is difficult — and our kids need to see that.

As parents, it’s tempting to let Catholic (private) school handle the faith formation part of parenting — to let their religion teachers teach them how to pray and why we believe what we believe. Much of that is because we as parents and adults are still figuring out the faith as well.

But if faith is simply something kids hear about in second period and CCD, they will never understand the beauty, depth and gift of knowing Jesus.

Regardless of how we were raised or what type of classes we took, none of us have God completely figured out.

Maybe we can model Christ’s forgiveness by saying, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” And model His unconditional love by saying, “I love you no matter what you do.” And model His sacrifice by dying to ourselves a bit more and putting others first.

Maybe we can speak truth to our kids with Scripture, tell them something cool we read in a spiritual book or discuss a Church teaching we’re trying to understand.

Maybe having the humility to continue to know Him better as a grown adult is one of the best ways to show our kids that faith is more than a class or retreat high — that it’s a constant quest to know Him better so that we can continue be transformed…

I’m honored to share more words with FOCUS in a new post – “Raising Kids to Know That Faith Is More Than A Class.” Read more here.