Childhood
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Symbolic Unfoldment: Why Kids Need Bible Stories
The term symbolic unfoldment refers to how stories and symbols can bring revelation about ourselves, God, and others. For example, Genesis begins with two trees in a garden. One brings life, and the other, death. Later, we find Jesus executed on a tree. That tree, which spells his death, is our path to life. Finally, the Bible ends with a tree whose leaves heal the nations. Other references to trees lie scattered throughout the Bible, offering touchpoints of metaphor. The righteous man planted like a tree by the water in Psalm 1 comes to mind. So what do all these trees have to do with us? Trees show us the…
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The Redemptive Power of Play
Play is a loaded term for most adults. Our versions of play become twisted in this era of instant gratification. So when Jesus urges us to become like children, our response is usually a complicated one that includes words like innocence and simplicity, but rarely a concept of play. Now that I work for a mobile games company, fun is my job. But as I enter into the realm of the childlike, I begin to think that joy is a part of my calling. My job is to create faith-filled games for children that inspire joy, faith, and wonder. I suppose when called upon to enter into a childlike faith,…
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Parental Alienation: 6 Signs It’s Happening to You
Many couples in the midst of an acrimonious divorce toss around the term, parental alienation, to describe the effects of one parent badmouthing another. This often happens when one person seems particularly at fault in a divorce. I think everyone can agree that criticizing one parent to a child is unhealthy at best and abusive at worst. But this isn’t parental alienation. I recently heard about a four-year-old boy whose mother had left him and his father unexpectedly. Understandably both were devastated. Understandably the father felt a need to process this. He would launch into his rehearsal of the sudden separation and divorce and almost as if on cue, his…
