Mentor Texts

 

One of my favorite children's authors, Annette Whipple, has a blog called Wilder Companion.com. In one of her recent posts, she writes about how she became a writer. Hint: she had no idea or desire to write a book. She was a teacher. I know from personal experience teaching is more than a full-time job. But as usual, God has His own plans. Our hearts and plans always need to be intune to His. 

In Annette's blogpost I learned how she got the desire to write The Little House Companion from reading  Roar! The Christian Family Guide to the Chronicles of Narnia. She helps us understand the steps she took to make her book the best it could be for both children and adults. Roar! was her mentor text. She outlined her book following the examples she found in Roar! The Lord may never give us the desire to write a book or maybe He will, but we need a mentor text for our lives. 

Mrs. Whipple's book is filled with photos, explanations, activities, and family discussions she calls Family Talk. I think the best mentor text for our lives is probably lying on a shelf or table nearby. God's word may not have photos but think of the pictures created by descriptions.

Word Pictures -

• The Parable of the Lost Sheep - Luke 15:3-5 
• The Parable of the Sower - Matthew 13 This chapter is filled with many parables. 

Explanations - 

• "You have heard it said" - Matthew 5:17-48

Activities - 

• Whatever your hand finds to do - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Family Discussions - 

• Talk with your family about the things of God throughout the day - Deuteronomy 6:6-8

Heavenly Father, help us use Your word as our mentor text for life. Help us draw upon it for direction in our own lives and instill it into the hearts and minds of our children. In Jesus's name. Amen.