Every day, another number was marked off on the refrigerator—just 30 days until the Feast. Like a lot of children in our congregation, and specifically the family we lived with, I was euphoric—and getting more excited as the festival approached. And every day, another number was gone.
The truth is, I was partly excited because they were going to the Feast. We weren’t able to attend the entire Feast for financial reasons. Instead, we loaded up our junker and went down to Lake of the Ozarks with $25 over the holy day weekend. I remember driving down and watching for out-of-state license plates. Many of those cars were filled with Church members driving to attend God’s holy days. Also, when I spotted one, I could draw a surprise out of the brown bag Mom packed, filled with Feast items for me: maybe a granola bar, a pack of crayons, or a box of small paper firecrackers that made a nice pop when thrown against a hard surface.
My mom also took the opportunity to explain the meaning of the Feast to me—as she had done while marking off those numbers day by day. We weren’t able to attend the full eight-day festival until I was 8 years old, but I experienced the benefits of the Feast for weeks as it approached, during the Feast, and after it ended because of her effort.
As a child, you don’t fully recognize that the benefits you experience are the result of the efforts of those around you. The festival experience your children have will largely depend on you. Are you preparing your children for this year’s Feast of Tabernacles?
Here are three things you can do to ensure your children get the most out of this year’s festival before you even leave home.
1) Anticipate Like a Child
When a friend gave my daughter her first bike, my daughter eagerly anticipated riding it—but it had a flat tire. She asked us to fix it many times. The remarkable thing is, she was only 2 and had never ridden a bike. She knew, though, that what was coming was exciting, and she anticipated it.
The Feast is exciting too—but your child might not know that unless you make it clear. Be excited! Can you stir up the kind of excitement your children do when they want to tell you something? They should learn to associate the Feast of Tabernacles, and even its approach, with the spirit of God’s command: Rejoice in your Feast! (Deuteronomy 16:14). As the Feast approaches, and you wrestle down the many niggling details that arise, let your children see you deal with these things positively.
Let them be part of the preparations for the days. Perhaps they could help make a calendar to mark off the days as the Feast approaches. You could help them pick out a few special toys they might like to take with them.
Talk to them about the activities they will attend at the Feast: the daily services, the family day, the entertainment night. Discuss other things you might be able to do as a family at the place where God has placed His name (Deuteronomy 14:24). And in all of these things, let your excitement show!
2) Explain the Meaning of the Days
God’s holy days are special because of their profound meaning. If we fail to give our children a vision of the World Tomorrow, we can turn what should be a spiritually enriching time into a physical vacation.
It isn’t difficult for a child to capture that vision. My daughter once woke me early on a Sunday morning to exclaim that it was the World Tomorrow and all the animals were so nice and you could scratch their chins. This gave me the opportunity to explain that that “tomorrow” is a metaphor!
Start giving your children the material they need to prepare their minds for what they will receive at this year’s festival now. When your children attend Sabbath services, read The Bible Story, watch Young Ambassador videos, or engage in any number of other activities that are part of our God Family lifestyle, they learn about God’s plan for them.
Help them make that connection; show them the old Church seal—an image of a small child, a lion and a lamb together in peace as depicted in Isaiah 11—and tell them about the beautiful world to come in their lifetimes.
3) Show Them Their Role in the Millennium
Our children will be an important part of the Millennium as princes and princesses in all the Earth (Psalm 45:16). Require that they uphold that standard now, both in services and out in the community. What does it mean to be a prince? How does someone with a royal calling behave?
People frequently comment on how well behaved children in God’s Church are. This is a fantastic way we can be a light to the community today, and something that will be remembered. Don’t allow your children to make a mess or a scene in a restaurant. Teach your children to be quiet in the hallways of your hotel, respecting the other guests. How will people describe our little princes and princesses after we return home? If we prepare them now, we can be confident of a good report.
In The God Family Vision, Gerald Flurry writes: “If we do our part as parents, generally speaking we will have great young people who yearn to be taught about the God Family vision and what it means to their future. What other vision will cause them to stand up to this evil world? This vision makes it real in their minds. How heartbreaking it is when you see parents who will not dedicate their children to God and will not teach them the God Family vision.”
If our children have this vision firmly in their minds, they will want to uphold the royal standard you are teaching them. In addition to the royal, godly standard they will maintain, also show them the benefits this princely training will bring: They will share your reward. Mr. Flurry continues, “Children of converted members in God’s Church, even if not baptized when Jesus Christ returns, I believe will still be a part of that firstfruits group, because they were sanctified before Christ’s return. Our children have such a wonderful future!”
This depiction of our children’s future in God’s Kingdom on Earth will be as clear in their developing minds as we make it. Embrace your God-given responsibility. Look at the coming festival season through their eyes, anticipate the joyous time that is just ahead of us, and rejoice with your children at this year’s family Feast of Tabernacles!