#5 - Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior

Barbara Rainey's Top 10 Interviews

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Introduce Your Kids to the Savior

Guests: Dennis and Barbara Rainey

From the series: Celebrating Advent (Day 3 of 5)

Air date: November 30, 2016

______________________________________________________________________________

Bob: Many parents would love for their family to have a more spiritual / a more Christ-centered focus during the Christmas season. But there’s not a lot that points us in that direction. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: As we were raising our children, I noticed that there was very little available, even then—and that was 20 years ago—that helped us, as a family / helped Dennis and me turn our kids’ attention to Jesus at the Christmas holiday. I wanted to do that—I wanted to help my kids appreciate Christmas for what it was really all about. And yet, I couldn’t find things that helped me engage my kids in conversations about it. I couldn’t find things, other than a Nativity scene or two, that we had that would help us turn our attention, and help us turn our kids’ attention, to the meaning of Christmas.

1:00

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, November 30th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. What can we be doing, as moms and dads, to be pointing our children in a more Christ-centered direction as we get ready to celebrate Christmas? We’re going to explore that today. Stay with us.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. I’m going to have to get a new mailbox I think. I mean—

Dennis: Too many catalogues?

Bob: Yes; stop and think: “How much meaningful mail do you get in a year these days? I go out to the mailbox every day to see what’s in the mailbox. How many days is it just junk?”

Barbara: Most of the days.

Bob: Most days it’s just junk mail. Every once in a while, there’s a lovely letter from FamilyLife—so we have that / we always get that—and open that first thing; but most of the time, it’s just junk.

2:00

Well, you get to Christmastime—

Dennis: I just wrote you a note, Bob—I just thanked you. You should be getting it here pretty soon.

Bob: Well, I’ll keep my eyes open for it. Thank you. [Laughter]

Barbara: Yes; thank you notes are nice to get.

Dennis: A handwritten note is really valuable today.

Bob: Those are nice and rare.

So, now, at Christmastime, there is not enough room in the mailbox for all of the catalogues / for all of the—just all of the stuff / all of the junk that everybody wants us to buy. I’m just telling them, “Don’t send them to me anymore, because I’m not buying your stuff; okay?” I’m just trying to tell them—

Barbara: They don’t believe it, though.

Bob: I guess they don’t; no.

Dennis: Barbara joins us on FamilyLife Today. Welcome back, Sweetheart.

Barbara: Thank you.

Dennis: She had me actually go to the garbage the other day, Bob, and fish out of the garbage a magazine that she said captured really what is the message / what has become the message of Christmas this season.

Barbara: I did; because I didn’t want the magazine / didn’t need it—

3:00

—so I pitched it. Then I started thinking about the messages that that magazine was communicating to me at Christmas. This one came in the mail the other day. On the cover, it says, “385 Ways to Dazzle Family and Friends.” [Laughter] I thought, “Well, first of all, who has time for 385 ways, number one; and secondly, is it really about dazzling your family and friends?” I just thought: “Oh my gosh! We have really—we have really changed.”

Bob: This is all about Christmas—you’re supposed to do all of this—

Barbara: This whole catalogue—

Dennis: It’s a new advent—385 steps / 385 ways—[Laughter]

Bob: So, did you read any of them?

Barbara: Well, I flipped through it; and of course, it’s multiple choice—you don’t have to do all 385. They want you to have lots of options.

Bob: That’s a good thing; yes.

Barbara: One of them said, “Take a bow as you reveal the spectacular cake.” Another one said, “Show them you love them by giving one of these handmade gifts to everyone on your list.” [Laughter] I’m thinking, “Even if you just chose one of those, it’s overwhelming, all by itself.”

4:00

Bob: I can do the bow; but I’m just thinking, “My friends and family are not going to be dazzled when I take a bow.”

Barbara: No; no. [Laughter]

Dennis: It is all the wrong message, though.

Barbara: Yes; it is.

Dennis: What we want to do is—I don’t know that we want to dazzle. I think we want to refocus—a little bit like a camera—bring back the focus to Christmas and what it’s all about and help families celebrate Jesus Christ.

Barbara: Actually, I think dazzle might be a good word. I think what we want is—we want to be dazzled by the incarnation—the fact that Jesus actually came to the planet to rescue us when we didn’t des...