February 5, 2025 • 31 mins
Unlock the secrets to building a spiritually fulfilling home amidst modern chaos with Clayton Greene, co-author of "Building Spiritual Habits in the Home." Clayton joins us to share invaluable insights on nurturing a faith-driven environment for families, drawing inspiration from his successful creation, Advent Blocks. Together, we explore practical strategies and grace-filled advice for aligning your home's atmosphere with your spiritual goals, ensuring that these habits become meaningful rather than burdensome tasks on your checklist.
Reflect on how small, consistent changes can transform your spiritual journey. We discuss the art of starting small and the power of tangible reminders like Advent blocks and gratitude cubes, inspired by biblical teachings. Discover how to select the right environment and timing for spiritual practices, and the significance of playfulness and community in sustaining these habits. Through practical examples and personal anecdotes, we offer guidance on overcoming challenges and integrating these practices into your daily life.
Explore resources on the GoodKindShop website to further support your spiritual growth journey, and gain insights from Clayton's book for step-by-step guidance on building a faith-filled home. This episode is your guide to transforming your household into a sanctuary of spiritual growth and connection.
https://goodkind.shop/collections/spiritual-habits?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=book-promo-2024-launch&utm_id=01JH17D6DGHNSKT713FTG46XCX&_kx=NbGl12uunVKyMREHh9zKPJ-fwwaqobw2JiEkV7HKOW0kYjFBzgURCknvEP5uVNmv.XmwrUs
Thanks for listening! Visit our website rfwma.org and follow us on Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/limitlessspiritpodcast/
and Instagram: @limitlessspiritpodcast
Help us make more inspiring episodes: https://rfwma.org/give-support-the-podcast/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome back to another episode of Limitless
Spirit, where we explore howfaith shapes our lives and our
greater purpose.
I'm your host, helen Todd, andtoday we're diving into a topic
that resonates deeply with everyChristian parent Well, with
every Christian, really andthat's the challenge of building
(00:36):
a spiritually rich home intoday's fast-paced world.
Maybe you've struggled to findtime for family devotions, or
perhaps you feel like you'refailing at passing down your
faith in a way that sticks.
If that's you, you're not alone.
My guest today is Clayton Green.
He is the co-author of a bookcalled Building Spiritual Habits
(00:59):
in the Home, and this bookprovides practical and
grace-filled insights intocreating a culture of faith in
your family life.
In this episode, we will talkabout why so many parents feel
inadequate in this area and thebiggest challenges of fostering
faith at home and, mostimportantly, how to establish
(01:22):
meaningful spiritual habitswithout it feeling like just
another task or your to-do list,whether you're a parent or a
grandparent or a mentor.
This conversation is packedwith wisdom and encouragement
and really practical advice tohelp you create an atmosphere
(01:43):
where faith thrives advice tohelp you create an atmosphere
where faith thrives.
So grab a cup of coffee or teaand settle in and let's get
started.
Hello Clayton, welcome to theLimitless Spirit.
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I'm doing good, Helen .
Thank you for having me.
It's nice to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So we're going to talk about a very important
subject, I think, and verytimely too, and it's about
building spiritual habits in thehome.
So you and your friend wrote abook on the subject, and I think
that it was truly perfecttiming.
So I always like to ask anauthor what prompted you to
(02:24):
write this book now?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, well, I like that.
You're talking about timingalready.
There's a chapter in the bookon timing, so maybe we can dig
into that a little bit as well.
Yeah, six years ago now, myco-founder and I we started
something called Good Kind.
It really started with aproduct called Advent Blocks.
That was essentially a productthat we created to help our
family focus on Jesus atChristmas and not just presents.
(02:49):
It actually worked really wellfor our families.
The next year ended up workingwell for 5,000 families and we
just continued to get thisfeedback that people had tried
to do something but they hadnever really actually been able
to follow through and do it.
And when they got Advent Blocks,they were able to actually
start the follow through and doit.
And when they got Advent Blocks, they were able to actually
start the Advent Guide andfinish it.
And so we actually reverseengineered what was successful
(03:11):
about Advent Blocks and weactually noticed that there were
some consistent themes withwhat made it work.
That we had kind of put inplace because of things we had
learned from both the Bible andhabit scientists on how to be
more consistent with ourspiritual habits, and we've been
using that playbook, so tospeak, for the last five years,
as we've created other products,and then we just wrote the
(03:33):
playbook down and that's whatyou have in your hands.
It's six small steps that youcan make that will help you be
more consistent in the spiritualhabits that you have great
intentions to do but sometimeshave a little bit of difficulty
actually following through.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So very interesting.
I already want to know what theAdvent blocks are, but we'll
get to that that soundsinteresting.
You know, it's not a newcomplaint to say that there are
so many things vying for theattention of our children and
our own right now variousmediums of information,
(04:10):
entertainment that can be verydistracting to creating this
right spiritual atmosphere inthe home.
Have you run into thesechallenges?
I want us to highlight maybesome of the challenges that
families are facing today whenthey attempt to create this
(04:31):
ritual spiritual environment inthe household on December 23rd,
I think it was 2019.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
My daughter, kara, said to us mommy and daddy, you
say that Christmas is all aboutJesus, but it feels like
Christmas is all about presents,right?
So there's that alignment issue, and the reason that is is
because our environment, thethings we do, how we set up our
homes, where we work all thesedifferent things have a profound
impact on who we are and how webehave, and we think that we
need to just pay a little bitmore attention to that.
(05:08):
So the way that the room is setup where you're tucking your
kids in, or the way the room isset up where you're trying to
read your Bible can just have aprofound impact on whether or
not you do what you meant to doand also how consistently you do
it.
And it matters a lot becausethe small things that we do day
to day are really the thingsthat end up making our families
into who they are.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That's very true.
And you know, when there is adisconnect between the
environment in the home and whatwe're trying to teach our
children when we take them tochurch or we, you know,
encourage them to read the Wordof God when there's that
disconnect, that's when we takethem to church or we, you know,
encourage them to read the wordof God.
When there's that disconnect,that's when we end up with the
results that are not desirable.
(05:51):
You know to where the kidsdon't want to know what you have
to say and they don't want tofollow you to church.
And so I agree with you thatyou know, when we live what we
preach, it makes much greaterimpact on our children and on
ourselves as well.
So I think we've establishedthat building spiritual habits
(06:14):
in the home is absolutelyessential.
So let's talk about, in today'sculture of business and digital
distractions, what do you thinkare the biggest obstacles that
are preventing families frombuilding these spiritual habits?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah, I mean time probably is the largest obstacle
, and you would probably puttechnology right behind that as
an impact on time.
You know, everything is justbuilt to be efficient and fast,
and God doesn't typically workthat way.
Right, we all want things tokind of be done and be under our
control, but what we end upseeing in scripture is that
(06:53):
Jesus is walking everywhere,healing people as he goes, and,
yes, there are things thathappen dramatically and fast,
but the way that he had animpact on the disciples and on
the whole world actually endedup being something that happened
much slower.
You know, chapter one of thebook is a chapter on who God is
and what that means for ourspiritual habits, and one of
those five roots about God andwhat it means for our spiritual
(07:15):
habits is that he prefers towork slowly.
You know we want him to workquickly, but he Chris, my
coauthor references a bookcalled the Three Mile an Hour
God.
That God, in order to make usbest know who he is, actually
came and walked with us, andthat's about the pace that a
human ends up walking.
And so it's just interesting tothink about how God is changing
(07:37):
us.
He certainly will change us, butit's going to take a lot longer
than what we expected.
So then you're saying what isthe thing that is the biggest
limitation on spiritual cultureor habits in our home?
And I think it's that we passthrough our days without
thinking about the spiritual,when the spiritual is profoundly
around us everywhere and weneed to slow down in order to
(07:59):
respond to God and notice whathe is doing.
So that's probably whyspiritual practices of slowing
things like Sabbath, things likesilence, that type of thing end
up being such a big emphasiswhen you read a book on
spiritual disciplines.
But actually, if you go backand you read writings of
spiritual fathers hundreds andhundreds of years ago, when
(08:22):
there were no cars and there'sno phones, and you know the work
was, you know, much closer toyour home, and they actually
also are still saying, hey, slowdown, slow down, notice what
God is doing.
It's not just us today, but youwould have to imagine that it's
profoundly, exponentiallyimpacted because of the way that
we live our lives.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's a great point.
So we've already a little bittouched on that.
But what about the resistancefrom children, for example?
So how can parents approachfaith formation when their kids
don't seem interested in that?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, well, that makes me think of like an
analogy that we've used beforeabout kids and target.
You know, if you take afive-year-old six-year-old, that
five-year-old six-year-old hasnever been taught or told how to
go into a Target, find a packof Sour Patch Kids and to pay
for it and to leave the store.
We've never actually sat themdown and told it to them.
(09:16):
But how many five tosix-year-olds, if we gave them a
credit card, could actually dothat?
The reason they can do it isbecause they actually have been
trained to do it, notnecessarily taught to do it.
So I'll say it this way.
I mean, I think that as long aswe are thinking about the
spiritual lives of our childrenas both a combination of
(09:37):
teaching and training, there mayat some point be some kind of
pushback against the teaching,but there's often not as much
pushback against the training,because most of the training is
modeling.
You don't have to have them doit, but if they watch you do it,
it will get into them.
Train up a child in the way youshould go and he will not
depart from them.
It says train, teaching isreally, really important, but
(09:59):
training is also incrediblyimportant as well, and they
often want to join you in it.
One of the chapters, one of thesix small steps, is making it
playful.
So that will be the one otherthing that, if you're
experiencing resistance fromkids on participating with you
spiritually, I would look atwhat you're doing and see
whether or not it is ageappropriate and playful enough
for a kid to want to be engaged.
(10:20):
And we think that seriousnessis really important in
spirituality.
But play is incredibly virtuousas well and often brings us
back over and over and invitesour kids to belong.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
That really segues right into my next question.
So what are the foundationalelements that help create a home
where faith is a natural partof life rather than just another
task?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, I mean, the hard part of that answer, helen,
is that it has to be in theparents.
We can often try to structurethings to teach our kids to live
a different way than we are.
You know, do as I say, not as Ido.
That doesn't really work thatwell, I mean, I think, the way
that you make it apart.
That's why the book and thesmall steps that you can take,
they're not uniquely family orchildren's steps.
(11:06):
They're things that adultscould apply to their own lives
as well, so that they can bemore consistent in Bible reading
and prayer as well, because itis that modeling that actually
will set the environment of yourhome.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So I was looking at the reviews and comments that
people made after reading yourbook, and they're saying these
are really easy steps.
So everybody loves easy.
So, clayton, let's jumpstraight into those steps,
because I love the part easy.
Something tells me, though,that it's not really that easy,
(11:41):
because good things take timeand effort, you know, but maybe
they're not as complicated aspeople may think, because it can
seem daunting, you know,especially maybe for families
with the parents and newbelievers, and the children
maybe are not so little, sotheir formation is already
(12:04):
somewhere in the middle.
You know it could seem daunting.
So let's look at these stepsand see how they can be
applicable to our lives.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Well, so the first step you've already hit on there
and for everybody who'slistening and that's not holding
the book the first step is makeit easy.
We actually say, easier thanyou think you have to Now.
Of course, we get that fromhabit.
Scientists, right, wherethey'll say you know, challenge
yourself to, you know, walk forthree minutes a day, not run a
marathon.
Right, because you have to like, be consistent and start with
(12:34):
something small in order to growto something that is big.
So we get it there.
But it also is is.
We find it in the Bible as well,you know, just in the book of
Matthew, to be fair, jesusdefinitely talks about taking up
your cross and following him.
Right, but also he says comeand follow me because my burden
is easy.
Right, my, my yoke is light.
(12:55):
He's actually saying that aswell, and I think he is saying
that in the context of thePharisees, who were doing what?
The exact opposite, making itharder than it has to be.
So we're not at all saying thatit's not going to be hard or
that it's not going to becomedifficult in some ways and Jesus
wouldn't say that either but Ido think that he says the
(13:16):
beginning place is easy.
The burden is light, and so whenwe're thinking about making it
easy, what we're trying to do iswe're trying to say we want
everybody to be engaged, notjust the super Christians.
We'd rather an entire churchmemorize one verse of Romans
than one person in the churchmemorize the entire book of
Romans.
Now that person should do that.
(13:37):
More power to them.
But what we're trying to do inthis book is to get the rest of
us who are trying to beintentional and actually walk
out our faith and actually getengaged and be consistent with
the God who we believe isactually going to change us.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's awesome.
So let's kind of skim over someof those steps to give our
listeners a overview of whatthey can expect to learn.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yep.
So make it easy is the firstone.
The second one is make ittangible.
You know, our lives are verytangible and we get a lot of
reminders on our phones.
But there's actually so manyreminders on our phones that
often they just drown back intothe background.
But what doesn't drown backinto the background is a
beautiful piece, a tangible itemthat reminds you to do
(14:24):
something that you're supposedto do Tennis shoes sitting at
the door reminds you that youwant to go for a walk.
A Gratikube, which is anotherone of the products we made,
sitting on the dinner tablereminds you that you want to
have conversation.
Then it's pick a place, becauseyour environment really, really
matters.
You walk into a movie theaterand everybody's sitting in
chairs facing in one directionand everybody's pretty quiet and
(14:46):
they listen right.
But if you walk into a gym andthere's stands around a
basketball court, everybody getsreally loud.
Why is that?
It's because the environmentitself actually invites us into
doing the thing we want to do weshould pay attention to that
for our spiritual habits as well.
Then it's choose your timing,and that's the one that you were
talking about in the verybeginning.
You know, god made evening andmorning.
He didn't make the hours or theseconds, and so if we follow
(15:09):
him in his design for our lives,we want to pay attention to how
our body has these rhythms inthe day, where everybody wants
to take a nap in the afternoonor either have another cup of
coffee and that's probably notthe best time to be doing your
Bible reading because of howyour body is acting at that time
and then we finish up with makeit playful and find your
friends.
I already mentioned playful alittle bit to make sure that
we're engaging with our wholefamily and then finding our
(15:31):
friends.
We were made for community, butalso doing these things in
community greatly increases thelikelihood that we're going to
do it over time.
So that's it Make it easy, makeit tangible, pick a place,
choose your timing, make itplayful and find your friends.
Which one, do you kind of,resonates with you the most?
Helen?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Oh, that's a good question.
I would say all of themhonestly, because, well, I
really like the make it tangible, because this is going to be my
next question.
You keep talking about theseblocks that are making those
moments tangible, so let's talkabout them.
The Advent blocks, and you saidthe gratitude.
(16:11):
I love those.
So making tangible is probablythe one where I think I want to
dig deeper, because I thinkmaybe I've spent the least
amount of time on that one.
So I'm very curious.
You know, make the timing, I'mall about that.
I love that.
You know, making it playfulMaybe I sometimes fall behind on
(16:36):
that one.
I'm a very serious person, Ilove to have fun, but I don't
know.
That's a good one too.
So let's talk about thetangible ways that we can create
reminders in our lives.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yeah, so quickly I'll say this is pervasive
throughout the Bible rightAltars In Deuteronomy it says
write these things on yourdoorpost, carry them on hearts.
Now he says, no, take thisbread and eat it, drink this cup
and as you do these things,remember me, because reminding
(17:22):
ourselves is so much easier thanhaving to remember.
And it doesn't mean that we'reless intentional, because
sometimes it drops out of ourmind that we're planning to do
something.
So tangible things are really,really important.
A couple of examples that Iwould give you would be like you
want to make sure that you pickan item that draws you in.
(17:42):
It needs to be beautiful, itneeds to be and it needs to also
remind you of the thing thatyou would like to do.
So an example that I haven'tmentioned yet would be like a
kneeling pad.
If you put like a kneeling pador honestly even like a folded
up towel at the side of yourkid's bed, it will cue you to
kneel on the side of the bedwhen you're talking to your kid
at night and for prayer, and soif you don't have that pad there
(18:04):
, then it might slip your mindor you kind of get rushed or you
don't remember that you want todo that.
But putting the tangible itemthere, it draws you in and
encourages you and reminds youto do the thing that you wanted
to do.
You know I already mentionedtennis shoes at the door reminds
you that you want to take awalk.
But the Advent blockspecifically, it's 25 blocks
that you sit on a mantle atChristmas time it looks like a
(18:25):
Christmas decoration.
Again, beauty is reallyimportant.
And then every day you take theblock numbered 1 through 25 and
you turn it and it reveals animage that corresponds to a
story in a book that we providethe King is Coming.
And.
And it reveals an image thatcorresponds to a story in a book
that we provide the King isComing, and it goes throughout
the whole story of the Bible.
So every day you're turning theblock revealing an image,
turning the block revealing animage, and there's a star that
sits on top, that is movingacross day by day and is getting
(18:47):
closer to the globe.
That is on the other end of theblock, sitting on top of number
25, representing God coming toearth to stay.
And then at the very end, youflip all the blocks again and
there's a secret message in theback.
But in terms of the tangibility.
You tell a kid we're going toturn a block.
Every day they know that it'sthe 5th of December and they
look up there and they say, oh,we haven't turned the block yet.
(19:08):
Hey, we need to read this story.
That tangible item has remindedus to do the thing that we
wanted to do.
Now.
You remember that first year Iwas telling you about my
daughter, kara, who said you saythat Christmas is all about
Jesus.
It feels like all aboutpresents.
We were doing an Advent guidethat year, but it just wasn't
central enough to the home.
We didn't do it every day.
There's something about thetangible reminder that actually
(19:33):
began to rival the presents.
And then the Gratacube is a12-sided die.
It's a small little woodenblock that has some etching on
it of 12 different prompts, ofthings that you can be grateful
for, and you just roll it like adie at the dinner table and
then you pick it up and it sayssomeone made you smile and you
say God, thank you for myconversation with Helen today.
It made me smile and a lot ofpeople want to be intentional
(19:55):
with their table conversation,but it can sometimes get tiring
or boring or repetitive, and sowe just created an item that
made the kids ask for theconversation rather than the
parent having to force it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I just love it.
I already have in my mind Iwant the advent blocks and you
know, my kids are grown actually, so I don't have little kids
and home.
But I'm thinking about friends.
You know what a greatconversation piece to have on
your mantle around Christmastime or, you know, around
(20:28):
mealtime when you have friendsover for dinner to have a
gratitude and great conversationstarter.
So I just love, I love that,and what a wonderful thing that
God inspired you with this idea,you know, and so that is just
absolutely beautiful.
So let's talk about someobstacles along the way.
(20:51):
So let's say, you know, ourlistener purchased your book and
they want to implement that intheir household.
Well, we know that, if nothingelse, the devil hates anything
that we do that brings us closerto God and makes us a better
follower of Christ.
(21:12):
So it's inevitable that thereare going to be obstacles,
christ.
So it's inevitable that thereare going to be obstacles, and
perhaps you have experiencedthem yourself in that journey of
building spiritual habits inyour home.
So what can you say about that?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, I think everybody should expect
obstacles, everybody shouldexpect failure, because starting
a new habit, spiritual or not,is something that takes time and
actually the six small stepsthat we talk about in the book,
what we intend there.
Is this actually a tool thatyou can use to continue to tweak
your plan so that you cancontinue to be more and more
(21:47):
consistent?
The example of failure for meis, you know, me and my
co-author, chris we're trying topray more often throughout the
day and we wanted to do this.
This is actually not on thewebsite, but you know we're into
tangible.
So we had these little woodenchips that had our prayer
requests on it that we wouldcarry around with us during the
day and then in the evening wewould drop it into a jar.
Not super fancy, but it was agood reminder and we could kind
(22:11):
of see how our prayers werestacking up.
When I first started that, I wasnot consistent at all.
Chris would be like, hey, doyou have your chip?
Hey, are you praying today?
And I'd be like, nope, forgot,sorry, forgot.
You know, over and over andover again, what I ended up
realizing is that I had my bowlof chips in the wrong location
in the house.
So this is about picking yourplace and a little bit about the
(22:31):
tangibles.
That's two chapters we'retalking about here.
So I took that bowl the tangible, the bowl and the wooden chips
and I moved it to where I wasgetting into my closet, where I
was getting dressed every day.
Because what was happening is Ihad it in my bedroom on my
bedside table, but I didn't walkpast my bedside table after I
was dressed for the day, so Ididn't have pockets on in order
to carry it with me.
(22:51):
And so I put that chip in thecloset and then boom, every day
I was picking one up, put it.
And so I put that chip in thecloset and then boom, every day
I was picking one up, put in mypocket, pick one up, put in my
pocket.
And then the jar that I droppedit in was downstairs in the
kitchen.
So I would get home at dinnerand I would drop it into the
kitchen.
That first time I could havejust gotten down on myself and
actually stopped trying orthought you know, I don't love
(23:11):
God enough in order to pray, youknow and gotten really
discouraged when actually what Ineeded to do is make an.
That's another chapter, threechapters now Find my friends.
Help me because he encouragedme to shift the location, the
tangible helped me because whenI actually put it in my pocket
but then the place that I put,that ended up being really
(23:32):
important so that I couldactually get started every day.
So those things are.
You're not going to get perfectthe first time, but the steps
should be things that you cancontinue to tweak.
Whether if you move houses oryou change jobs or you change
rooms or you get another kid,you know things are going to
have to continually change.
Hopefully this helps peoplereiterate and kind of pick back
up and see failure not asfailure but as feedback.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I love how practical that is.
My husband and I led a class atour church.
You know about buildingspiritual habits church.
You know about buildingspiritual habits and I wish your
book was available for me rightthere and right then, because
those practical things couldhelp reinforce the theory.
You know we were going throughthe theory of what we need to
(24:18):
work on, but this really is agreat tool.
So have you heard maybefeedback from some of your
readers, success stories thatyou can share with our listeners
?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah, at this point the book is pretty new.
Most of our success stories thatwe've heard so far have been
with the products that we'vecreated.
I think that if you have kidsin the home and you can do
something that is playful andtangible and you tell them hey,
if you bring this to me, I willdo this thing with you, kids
serve as excellentaccountability devices because
(24:51):
they love to engage with thegrownups that are in the house
and if they're given permissionto do that and the adult is
going to say yes, I think youprovide a great loop for making
sure that that habit ishappening.
We've heard so many people sayI've started Advent Guys before
but I've never finished one.
And now my kids won't let meleave on a December night, even
(25:12):
if they know that I'm going tobe out for the evening without
doing the reading.
It's just kind of this demand.
So we definitely think thatthere are ways to get ourselves
into a better rhythm of doingthese habits and if we get into
a better position of habits,that God's going to definitely
do something in us along the way.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
That's awesome, so we're going to post a link to
the book, so will they also beable to see how they can order?
Maybe they want to order somemore Advent blocks or the
Gratitude.
So, is it all available thereon the website?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, so the link that you're going to provide is
a link to the book on ourwebsite, and then on our website
you can actually see there inthe toolbar Advent blocks,
gratitude.
We have Easter blocks, we havesomething for prayer, something
for Sabbath, so there's a ton ofthings that people can engage
with there.
The book right now is only soldon Amazon.
It's not sold on our website,but if you want to go to our
website, that's what the linkwill be, and it's goodkindshop.
(26:14):
That's goodkindshop.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think I'm going to go shopping after this interview
because I'm excited.
I'm excited about thesetangible pieces that I can bring
into my home.
So you know, going back to yourbook, let's talk about maybe
three most important takeawaysthat our listeners will have if
(26:39):
they purchase your book.
I just wanted to make it easyfor them to do that when they
come to your website.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah.
So if you get the book, hereare the things that can even
make the book itself easier.
Number one on the chapter page,like the first page of every
chapter, we actually write thetake-home point for every
chapter.
So if you get to the make iteasy chapter, it actually has
listed what we mean by make iteasy.
Forgive yourself, make iteasier than you think and write
(27:10):
it down, and so you can prettyquickly know what we're going to
say, flip through those thingsand really get a good sense of
what's happening in the book.
Another thing that I wouldsuggest would be the additional
resources in the back.
If you go into the back, there'sactually an additional
resources page that actuallygives you a sentence that
actually puts all of thedifferent steps together, and if
you fill out the sentence onthat page, then, boom, you
(27:33):
already have everything that youneed in order to go and start a
new spiritual habit and thenalso back there if you want to.
There are a lot of differentspiritual habit options that
we've put back there, withspecific recommendations on each
one of the steps, so that ifyou've wanted to start a Sabbath
practice before and you didn'tknow where to start, you can
read the book and we encourageyou to come up with your own
(27:56):
right the way, the six smallsteps for you.
That will make you consistentwith it, because they're
probably going to be a littlebit different than ours.
But if you want six steps tostart and you want us just to
tell you exactly what to do,that's back in the
acknowledgements as well.
So all the different add-ons,the chapter pages and those two
things in the back of the bookare really, really important and
hopefully make it reallyaccessible for everyone.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Well, thank you so much, Clayton.
That was really exciting and Iam looking forward to checking
out these tools that you haveavailable.
I really encourage ourlisteners to pick up this book,
because I think that thesehabits are not going to happen
in our lives until we becomevery intentional about that, and
(28:39):
then very practical, aboutimplementing these habits into
our daily routine, and so I'mthankful that the Lord inspired
you to create this practical andhelpful tool.
So thank you for this interview, and I wish you God's favor on
your journey.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me, Helen.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Wow, what an encouraging conversation with
Clayton Green.
I love how he reminds us thatbuilding spiritual habits in the
home is not about perfection.
It's about consistency andgrace and creating a space where
faith naturally grows.
If you've been feelingoverwhelmed or discouraged in
(29:22):
this area, I hope this episodehas given you both practical
steps and renewed hope.
Remember you don't have to dothis alone, and it is never too
late to start.
Small, faithful steps can havea lasting impact on your
family's spiritual journey.
If you want to dive deeper intothis topic, I highly recommend
(29:44):
Clayton's book BuildingSpiritual Habits in the Home, as
well as the tangible tools thathe developed.
I'm posting the link to hiswebsite in the show notes and,
of course, you can always findthe book on Amazon.
And if you found thisconversation helpful, please
share it with a friend who mightneed this encouragement too.
(30:05):
I feel like every Christianparent needs to hear this.
Also, don't forget to subscribeto Limitless Spirit so you
never miss an episode.
And, of course, if today'sconversation spoke to you, I
would love to hear from you,Leave a comment or share your
notes via podcast at rfwmaorg.
(30:27):
World Missions Alliance is allabout helping you connect with
your greater purpose throughshort-term missions.
So if Great Commission is closeto your heart, if you want to
take the gospel to the nations,please visit our website
rfwmaorg.
Thank you for joining me.
Until next time, keep livingout your faith with purpose and
(30:52):
passion.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Limitless Spirit Podcast is produced by World
Missions Alliance.
We believe that changed liveschange lives.
If your life was transformed byChrist, you are equipped to
help others experience thistransformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
(31:17):
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
globe.
Across the globe, If you wantto help those who are hurting
and hopeless and discover yourgreater purpose in serving,
check out our website, rfwmaorgand find out how to get involved
.
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with
host Helen Todd, where sheinterviews guests about pursuing
spiritual growth, discoveringlife's purpose through serving
others and developing a deeperfaith in Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome back to another episode of Limitless
Spirit, where we explore howfaith shapes our lives and our
greater purpose.
I'm your host, helen Todd, andtoday we're diving into a topic
that resonates deeply with everyChristian parent Well, with
every Christian, really andthat's the challenge of building
(00:36):
a spiritually rich home intoday's fast-paced world.
Maybe you've struggled to findtime for family devotions, or
perhaps you feel like you'refailing at passing down your
faith in a way that sticks.
If that's you, you're not alone.
My guest today is Clayton Green.
He is the co-author of a bookcalled Building Spiritual Habits
(00:59):
in the Home, and this bookprovides practical and
grace-filled insights intocreating a culture of faith in
your family life.
In this episode, we will talkabout why so many parents feel
inadequate in this area and thebiggest challenges of fostering
faith at home and, mostimportantly, how to establish
(01:22):
meaningful spiritual habitswithout it feeling like just
another task or your to-do list,whether you're a parent or a
grandparent or a mentor.
This conversation is packedwith wisdom and encouragement
and really practical advice tohelp you create an atmosphere
(01:43):
where faith thrives advice tohelp you create an atmosphere
where faith thrives.
So grab a cup of coffee or teaand settle in and let's get
started.
Hello Clayton, welcome to theLimitless Spirit.
How are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I'm doing good, Helen .
Thank you for having me.
It's nice to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So we're going to talk about a very important
subject, I think, and verytimely too, and it's about
building spiritual habits in thehome.
So you and your friend wrote abook on the subject, and I think
that it was truly perfecttiming.
So I always like to ask anauthor what prompted you to
(02:24):
write this book now?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, well, I like that.
You're talking about timingalready.
There's a chapter in the bookon timing, so maybe we can dig
into that a little bit as well.
Yeah, six years ago now, myco-founder and I we started
something called Good Kind.
It really started with aproduct called Advent Blocks.
That was essentially a productthat we created to help our
family focus on Jesus atChristmas and not just presents.
(02:49):
It actually worked really wellfor our families.
The next year ended up workingwell for 5,000 families and we
just continued to get thisfeedback that people had tried
to do something but they hadnever really actually been able
to follow through and do it.
And when they got Advent Blocks,they were able to actually
start the follow through and doit.
And when they got Advent Blocks, they were able to actually
start the Advent Guide andfinish it.
And so we actually reverseengineered what was successful
(03:11):
about Advent Blocks and weactually noticed that there were
some consistent themes withwhat made it work.
That we had kind of put inplace because of things we had
learned from both the Bible andhabit scientists on how to be
more consistent with ourspiritual habits, and we've been
using that playbook, so tospeak, for the last five years,
as we've created other products,and then we just wrote the
(03:33):
playbook down and that's whatyou have in your hands.
It's six small steps that youcan make that will help you be
more consistent in the spiritualhabits that you have great
intentions to do but sometimeshave a little bit of difficulty
actually following through.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So very interesting.
I already want to know what theAdvent blocks are, but we'll
get to that that soundsinteresting.
You know, it's not a newcomplaint to say that there are
so many things vying for theattention of our children and
our own right now variousmediums of information,
(04:10):
entertainment that can be verydistracting to creating this
right spiritual atmosphere inthe home.
Have you run into thesechallenges?
I want us to highlight maybesome of the challenges that
families are facing today whenthey attempt to create this
(04:31):
ritual spiritual environment inthe household on December 23rd,
I think it was 2019.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
My daughter, kara, said to us mommy and daddy, you
say that Christmas is all aboutJesus, but it feels like
Christmas is all about presents,right?
So there's that alignment issue, and the reason that is is
because our environment, thethings we do, how we set up our
homes, where we work all thesedifferent things have a profound
impact on who we are and how webehave, and we think that we
need to just pay a little bitmore attention to that.
(05:08):
So the way that the room is setup where you're tucking your
kids in, or the way the room isset up where you're trying to
read your Bible can just have aprofound impact on whether or
not you do what you meant to doand also how consistently you do
it.
And it matters a lot becausethe small things that we do day
to day are really the thingsthat end up making our families
into who they are.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That's very true.
And you know, when there is adisconnect between the
environment in the home and whatwe're trying to teach our
children when we take them tochurch or we, you know,
encourage them to read the Wordof God when there's that
disconnect, that's when we takethem to church or we, you know,
encourage them to read the wordof God.
When there's that disconnect,that's when we end up with the
results that are not desirable.
(05:51):
You know to where the kidsdon't want to know what you have
to say and they don't want tofollow you to church.
And so I agree with you thatyou know, when we live what we
preach, it makes much greaterimpact on our children and on
ourselves as well.
So I think we've establishedthat building spiritual habits
(06:14):
in the home is absolutelyessential.
So let's talk about, in today'sculture of business and digital
distractions, what do you thinkare the biggest obstacles that
are preventing families frombuilding these spiritual habits?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah, I mean time probably is the largest obstacle
, and you would probably puttechnology right behind that as
an impact on time.
You know, everything is justbuilt to be efficient and fast,
and God doesn't typically workthat way.
Right, we all want things tokind of be done and be under our
control, but what we end upseeing in scripture is that
(06:53):
Jesus is walking everywhere,healing people as he goes, and,
yes, there are things thathappen dramatically and fast,
but the way that he had animpact on the disciples and on
the whole world actually endedup being something that happened
much slower.
You know, chapter one of thebook is a chapter on who God is
and what that means for ourspiritual habits, and one of
those five roots about God andwhat it means for our spiritual
(07:15):
habits is that he prefers towork slowly.
You know we want him to workquickly, but he Chris, my
coauthor references a bookcalled the Three Mile an Hour
God.
That God, in order to make usbest know who he is, actually
came and walked with us, andthat's about the pace that a
human ends up walking.
And so it's just interesting tothink about how God is changing
(07:37):
us.
He certainly will change us, butit's going to take a lot longer
than what we expected.
So then you're saying what isthe thing that is the biggest
limitation on spiritual cultureor habits in our home?
And I think it's that we passthrough our days without
thinking about the spiritual,when the spiritual is profoundly
around us everywhere and weneed to slow down in order to
(07:59):
respond to God and notice whathe is doing.
So that's probably whyspiritual practices of slowing
things like Sabbath, things likesilence, that type of thing end
up being such a big emphasiswhen you read a book on
spiritual disciplines.
But actually, if you go backand you read writings of
spiritual fathers hundreds andhundreds of years ago, when
(08:22):
there were no cars and there'sno phones, and you know the work
was, you know, much closer toyour home, and they actually
also are still saying, hey, slowdown, slow down, notice what
God is doing.
It's not just us today, but youwould have to imagine that it's
profoundly, exponentiallyimpacted because of the way that
we live our lives.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's a great point.
So we've already a little bittouched on that.
But what about the resistancefrom children, for example?
So how can parents approachfaith formation when their kids
don't seem interested in that?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, well, that makes me think of like an
analogy that we've used beforeabout kids and target.
You know, if you take afive-year-old six-year-old, that
five-year-old six-year-old hasnever been taught or told how to
go into a Target, find a packof Sour Patch Kids and to pay
for it and to leave the store.
We've never actually sat themdown and told it to them.
(09:16):
But how many five tosix-year-olds, if we gave them a
credit card, could actually dothat?
The reason they can do it isbecause they actually have been
trained to do it, notnecessarily taught to do it.
So I'll say it this way.
I mean, I think that as long aswe are thinking about the
spiritual lives of our childrenas both a combination of
(09:37):
teaching and training, there mayat some point be some kind of
pushback against the teaching,but there's often not as much
pushback against the training,because most of the training is
modeling.
You don't have to have them doit, but if they watch you do it,
it will get into them.
Train up a child in the way youshould go and he will not
depart from them.
It says train, teaching isreally, really important, but
(09:59):
training is also incrediblyimportant as well, and they
often want to join you in it.
One of the chapters, one of thesix small steps, is making it
playful.
So that will be the one otherthing that, if you're
experiencing resistance fromkids on participating with you
spiritually, I would look atwhat you're doing and see
whether or not it is ageappropriate and playful enough
for a kid to want to be engaged.
(10:20):
And we think that seriousnessis really important in
spirituality.
But play is incredibly virtuousas well and often brings us
back over and over and invitesour kids to belong.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
That really segues right into my next question.
So what are the foundationalelements that help create a home
where faith is a natural partof life rather than just another
task?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, I mean, the hard part of that answer, helen,
is that it has to be in theparents.
We can often try to structurethings to teach our kids to live
a different way than we are.
You know, do as I say, not as Ido.
That doesn't really work thatwell, I mean, I think, the way
that you make it apart.
That's why the book and thesmall steps that you can take,
they're not uniquely family orchildren's steps.
(11:06):
They're things that adultscould apply to their own lives
as well, so that they can bemore consistent in Bible reading
and prayer as well, because itis that modeling that actually
will set the environment of yourhome.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So I was looking at the reviews and comments that
people made after reading yourbook, and they're saying these
are really easy steps.
So everybody loves easy.
So, clayton, let's jumpstraight into those steps,
because I love the part easy.
Something tells me, though,that it's not really that easy,
(11:41):
because good things take timeand effort, you know, but maybe
they're not as complicated aspeople may think, because it can
seem daunting, you know,especially maybe for families
with the parents and newbelievers, and the children
maybe are not so little, sotheir formation is already
(12:04):
somewhere in the middle.
You know it could seem daunting.
So let's look at these stepsand see how they can be
applicable to our lives.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Well, so the first step you've already hit on there
and for everybody who'slistening and that's not holding
the book the first step is makeit easy.
We actually say, easier thanyou think you have to Now.
Of course, we get that fromhabit.
Scientists, right, wherethey'll say you know, challenge
yourself to, you know, walk forthree minutes a day, not run a
marathon.
Right, because you have to like, be consistent and start with
(12:34):
something small in order to growto something that is big.
So we get it there.
But it also is is.
We find it in the Bible as well,you know, just in the book of
Matthew, to be fair, jesusdefinitely talks about taking up
your cross and following him.
Right, but also he says comeand follow me because my burden
is easy.
Right, my, my yoke is light.
(12:55):
He's actually saying that aswell, and I think he is saying
that in the context of thePharisees, who were doing what?
The exact opposite, making itharder than it has to be.
So we're not at all saying thatit's not going to be hard or
that it's not going to becomedifficult in some ways and Jesus
wouldn't say that either but Ido think that he says the
(13:16):
beginning place is easy.
The burden is light, and so whenwe're thinking about making it
easy, what we're trying to do iswe're trying to say we want
everybody to be engaged, notjust the super Christians.
We'd rather an entire churchmemorize one verse of Romans
than one person in the churchmemorize the entire book of
Romans.
Now that person should do that.
(13:37):
More power to them.
But what we're trying to do inthis book is to get the rest of
us who are trying to beintentional and actually walk
out our faith and actually getengaged and be consistent with
the God who we believe isactually going to change us.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's awesome.
So let's kind of skim over someof those steps to give our
listeners a overview of whatthey can expect to learn.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yep.
So make it easy is the firstone.
The second one is make ittangible.
You know, our lives are verytangible and we get a lot of
reminders on our phones.
But there's actually so manyreminders on our phones that
often they just drown back intothe background.
But what doesn't drown backinto the background is a
beautiful piece, a tangible itemthat reminds you to do
(14:24):
something that you're supposedto do Tennis shoes sitting at
the door reminds you that youwant to go for a walk.
A Gratikube, which is anotherone of the products we made,
sitting on the dinner tablereminds you that you want to
have conversation.
Then it's pick a place, becauseyour environment really, really
matters.
You walk into a movie theaterand everybody's sitting in
chairs facing in one directionand everybody's pretty quiet and
(14:46):
they listen right.
But if you walk into a gym andthere's stands around a
basketball court, everybody getsreally loud.
Why is that?
It's because the environmentitself actually invites us into
doing the thing we want to do weshould pay attention to that
for our spiritual habits as well.
Then it's choose your timing,and that's the one that you were
talking about in the verybeginning.
You know, god made evening andmorning.
He didn't make the hours or theseconds, and so if we follow
(15:09):
him in his design for our lives,we want to pay attention to how
our body has these rhythms inthe day, where everybody wants
to take a nap in the afternoonor either have another cup of
coffee and that's probably notthe best time to be doing your
Bible reading because of howyour body is acting at that time
and then we finish up with makeit playful and find your
friends.
I already mentioned playful alittle bit to make sure that
we're engaging with our wholefamily and then finding our
(15:31):
friends.
We were made for community, butalso doing these things in
community greatly increases thelikelihood that we're going to
do it over time.
So that's it Make it easy, makeit tangible, pick a place,
choose your timing, make itplayful and find your friends.
Which one, do you kind of,resonates with you the most?
Helen?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Oh, that's a good question.
I would say all of themhonestly, because, well, I
really like the make it tangible, because this is going to be my
next question.
You keep talking about theseblocks that are making those
moments tangible, so let's talkabout them.
The Advent blocks, and you saidthe gratitude.
(16:11):
I love those.
So making tangible is probablythe one where I think I want to
dig deeper, because I thinkmaybe I've spent the least
amount of time on that one.
So I'm very curious.
You know, make the timing, I'mall about that.
I love that.
You know, making it playfulMaybe I sometimes fall behind on
(16:36):
that one.
I'm a very serious person, Ilove to have fun, but I don't
know.
That's a good one too.
So let's talk about thetangible ways that we can create
reminders in our lives.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yeah, so quickly I'll say this is pervasive
throughout the Bible rightAltars In Deuteronomy it says
write these things on yourdoorpost, carry them on hearts.
Now he says, no, take thisbread and eat it, drink this cup
and as you do these things,remember me, because reminding
(17:22):
ourselves is so much easier thanhaving to remember.
And it doesn't mean that we'reless intentional, because
sometimes it drops out of ourmind that we're planning to do
something.
So tangible things are really,really important.
A couple of examples that Iwould give you would be like you
want to make sure that you pickan item that draws you in.
(17:42):
It needs to be beautiful, itneeds to be and it needs to also
remind you of the thing thatyou would like to do.
So an example that I haven'tmentioned yet would be like a
kneeling pad.
If you put like a kneeling pador honestly even like a folded
up towel at the side of yourkid's bed, it will cue you to
kneel on the side of the bedwhen you're talking to your kid
at night and for prayer, and soif you don't have that pad there
(18:04):
, then it might slip your mindor you kind of get rushed or you
don't remember that you want todo that.
But putting the tangible itemthere, it draws you in and
encourages you and reminds youto do the thing that you wanted
to do.
You know I already mentionedtennis shoes at the door reminds
you that you want to take awalk.
But the Advent blockspecifically, it's 25 blocks
that you sit on a mantle atChristmas time it looks like a
(18:25):
Christmas decoration.
Again, beauty is reallyimportant.
And then every day you take theblock numbered 1 through 25 and
you turn it and it reveals animage that corresponds to a
story in a book that we providethe King is Coming.
And.
And it reveals an image thatcorresponds to a story in a book
that we provide the King isComing, and it goes throughout
the whole story of the Bible.
So every day you're turning theblock revealing an image,
turning the block revealing animage, and there's a star that
sits on top, that is movingacross day by day and is getting
(18:47):
closer to the globe.
That is on the other end of theblock, sitting on top of number
25, representing God coming toearth to stay.
And then at the very end, youflip all the blocks again and
there's a secret message in theback.
But in terms of the tangibility.
You tell a kid we're going toturn a block.
Every day they know that it'sthe 5th of December and they
look up there and they say, oh,we haven't turned the block yet.
(19:08):
Hey, we need to read this story.
That tangible item has remindedus to do the thing that we
wanted to do.
Now.
You remember that first year Iwas telling you about my
daughter, kara, who said you saythat Christmas is all about
Jesus.
It feels like all aboutpresents.
We were doing an Advent guidethat year, but it just wasn't
central enough to the home.
We didn't do it every day.
There's something about thetangible reminder that actually
(19:33):
began to rival the presents.
And then the Gratacube is a12-sided die.
It's a small little woodenblock that has some etching on
it of 12 different prompts, ofthings that you can be grateful
for, and you just roll it like adie at the dinner table and
then you pick it up and it sayssomeone made you smile and you
say God, thank you for myconversation with Helen today.
It made me smile and a lot ofpeople want to be intentional
(19:55):
with their table conversation,but it can sometimes get tiring
or boring or repetitive, and sowe just created an item that
made the kids ask for theconversation rather than the
parent having to force it.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I just love it.
I already have in my mind Iwant the advent blocks and you
know, my kids are grown actually, so I don't have little kids
and home.
But I'm thinking about friends.
You know what a greatconversation piece to have on
your mantle around Christmastime or, you know, around
(20:28):
mealtime when you have friendsover for dinner to have a
gratitude and great conversationstarter.
So I just love, I love that,and what a wonderful thing that
God inspired you with this idea,you know, and so that is just
absolutely beautiful.
So let's talk about someobstacles along the way.
(20:51):
So let's say, you know, ourlistener purchased your book and
they want to implement that intheir household.
Well, we know that, if nothingelse, the devil hates anything
that we do that brings us closerto God and makes us a better
follower of Christ.
(21:12):
So it's inevitable that thereare going to be obstacles,
christ.
So it's inevitable that thereare going to be obstacles, and
perhaps you have experiencedthem yourself in that journey of
building spiritual habits inyour home.
So what can you say about that?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, I think everybody should expect
obstacles, everybody shouldexpect failure, because starting
a new habit, spiritual or not,is something that takes time and
actually the six small stepsthat we talk about in the book,
what we intend there.
Is this actually a tool thatyou can use to continue to tweak
your plan so that you cancontinue to be more and more
(21:47):
consistent?
The example of failure for meis, you know, me and my
co-author, chris we're trying topray more often throughout the
day and we wanted to do this.
This is actually not on thewebsite, but you know we're into
tangible.
So we had these little woodenchips that had our prayer
requests on it that we wouldcarry around with us during the
day and then in the evening wewould drop it into a jar.
Not super fancy, but it was agood reminder and we could kind
(22:11):
of see how our prayers werestacking up.
When I first started that, I wasnot consistent at all.
Chris would be like, hey, doyou have your chip?
Hey, are you praying today?
And I'd be like, nope, forgot,sorry, forgot.
You know, over and over andover again, what I ended up
realizing is that I had my bowlof chips in the wrong location
in the house.
So this is about picking yourplace and a little bit about the
(22:31):
tangibles.
That's two chapters we'retalking about here.
So I took that bowl the tangible, the bowl and the wooden chips
and I moved it to where I wasgetting into my closet, where I
was getting dressed every day.
Because what was happening is Ihad it in my bedroom on my
bedside table, but I didn't walkpast my bedside table after I
was dressed for the day, so Ididn't have pockets on in order
to carry it with me.
(22:51):
And so I put that chip in thecloset and then boom, every day
I was picking one up, put it.
And so I put that chip in thecloset and then boom, every day
I was picking one up, put in mypocket, pick one up, put in my
pocket.
And then the jar that I droppedit in was downstairs in the
kitchen.
So I would get home at dinnerand I would drop it into the
kitchen.
That first time I could havejust gotten down on myself and
actually stopped trying orthought you know, I don't love
(23:11):
God enough in order to pray, youknow and gotten really
discouraged when actually what Ineeded to do is make an.
That's another chapter, threechapters now Find my friends.
Help me because he encouragedme to shift the location, the
tangible helped me because whenI actually put it in my pocket
but then the place that I put,that ended up being really
(23:32):
important so that I couldactually get started every day.
So those things are.
You're not going to get perfectthe first time, but the steps
should be things that you cancontinue to tweak.
Whether if you move houses oryou change jobs or you change
rooms or you get another kid,you know things are going to
have to continually change.
Hopefully this helps peoplereiterate and kind of pick back
up and see failure not asfailure but as feedback.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I love how practical that is.
My husband and I led a class atour church.
You know about buildingspiritual habits church.
You know about buildingspiritual habits and I wish your
book was available for me rightthere and right then, because
those practical things couldhelp reinforce the theory.
You know we were going throughthe theory of what we need to
(24:18):
work on, but this really is agreat tool.
So have you heard maybefeedback from some of your
readers, success stories thatyou can share with our listeners
?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah, at this point the book is pretty new.
Most of our success stories thatwe've heard so far have been
with the products that we'vecreated.
I think that if you have kidsin the home and you can do
something that is playful andtangible and you tell them hey,
if you bring this to me, I willdo this thing with you, kids
serve as excellentaccountability devices because
(24:51):
they love to engage with thegrownups that are in the house
and if they're given permissionto do that and the adult is
going to say yes, I think youprovide a great loop for making
sure that that habit ishappening.
We've heard so many people sayI've started Advent Guys before
but I've never finished one.
And now my kids won't let meleave on a December night, even
(25:12):
if they know that I'm going tobe out for the evening without
doing the reading.
It's just kind of this demand.
So we definitely think thatthere are ways to get ourselves
into a better rhythm of doingthese habits and if we get into
a better position of habits,that God's going to definitely
do something in us along the way.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
That's awesome, so we're going to post a link to
the book, so will they also beable to see how they can order?
Maybe they want to order somemore Advent blocks or the
Gratitude.
So, is it all available thereon the website?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, so the link that you're going to provide is
a link to the book on ourwebsite, and then on our website
you can actually see there inthe toolbar Advent blocks,
gratitude.
We have Easter blocks, we havesomething for prayer, something
for Sabbath, so there's a ton ofthings that people can engage
with there.
The book right now is only soldon Amazon.
It's not sold on our website,but if you want to go to our
website, that's what the linkwill be, and it's goodkindshop.
(26:14):
That's goodkindshop.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think I'm going to go shopping after this interview
because I'm excited.
I'm excited about thesetangible pieces that I can bring
into my home.
So you know, going back to yourbook, let's talk about maybe
three most important takeawaysthat our listeners will have if
(26:39):
they purchase your book.
I just wanted to make it easyfor them to do that when they
come to your website.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah.
So if you get the book, hereare the things that can even
make the book itself easier.
Number one on the chapter page,like the first page of every
chapter, we actually write thetake-home point for every
chapter.
So if you get to the make iteasy chapter, it actually has
listed what we mean by make iteasy.
Forgive yourself, make iteasier than you think and write
(27:10):
it down, and so you can prettyquickly know what we're going to
say, flip through those thingsand really get a good sense of
what's happening in the book.
Another thing that I wouldsuggest would be the additional
resources in the back.
If you go into the back, there'sactually an additional
resources page that actuallygives you a sentence that
actually puts all of thedifferent steps together, and if
you fill out the sentence onthat page, then, boom, you
(27:33):
already have everything that youneed in order to go and start a
new spiritual habit and thenalso back there if you want to.
There are a lot of differentspiritual habit options that
we've put back there, withspecific recommendations on each
one of the steps, so that ifyou've wanted to start a Sabbath
practice before and you didn'tknow where to start, you can
read the book and we encourageyou to come up with your own
(27:56):
right the way, the six smallsteps for you.
That will make you consistentwith it, because they're
probably going to be a littlebit different than ours.
But if you want six steps tostart and you want us just to
tell you exactly what to do,that's back in the
acknowledgements as well.
So all the different add-ons,the chapter pages and those two
things in the back of the bookare really, really important and
hopefully make it reallyaccessible for everyone.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Well, thank you so much, Clayton.
That was really exciting and Iam looking forward to checking
out these tools that you haveavailable.
I really encourage ourlisteners to pick up this book,
because I think that thesehabits are not going to happen
in our lives until we becomevery intentional about that, and
(28:39):
then very practical, aboutimplementing these habits into
our daily routine, and so I'mthankful that the Lord inspired
you to create this practical andhelpful tool.
So thank you for this interview, and I wish you God's favor on
your journey.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me, Helen.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Wow, what an encouraging conversation with
Clayton Green.
I love how he reminds us thatbuilding spiritual habits in the
home is not about perfection.
It's about consistency andgrace and creating a space where
faith naturally grows.
If you've been feelingoverwhelmed or discouraged in
(29:22):
this area, I hope this episodehas given you both practical
steps and renewed hope.
Remember you don't have to dothis alone, and it is never too
late to start.
Small, faithful steps can havea lasting impact on your
family's spiritual journey.
If you want to dive deeper intothis topic, I highly recommend
(29:44):
Clayton's book BuildingSpiritual Habits in the Home, as
well as the tangible tools thathe developed.
I'm posting the link to hiswebsite in the show notes and,
of course, you can always findthe book on Amazon.
And if you found thisconversation helpful, please
share it with a friend who mightneed this encouragement too.
(30:05):
I feel like every Christianparent needs to hear this.
Also, don't forget to subscribeto Limitless Spirit so you
never miss an episode.
And, of course, if today'sconversation spoke to you, I
would love to hear from you,Leave a comment or share your
notes via podcast at rfwmaorg.
(30:27):
World Missions Alliance is allabout helping you connect with
your greater purpose throughshort-term missions.
So if Great Commission is closeto your heart, if you want to
take the gospel to the nations,please visit our website
rfwmaorg.
Thank you for joining me.
Until next time, keep livingout your faith with purpose and
(30:52):
passion.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Limitless Spirit Podcast is produced by World
Missions Alliance.
We believe that changed liveschange lives.
If your life was transformed byChrist, you are equipped to
help others experience thistransformation.
Christ called his followers tomake disciples across the world.
World Missions Alliance givesyou an opportunity to do this
(31:17):
through short-term missions inover 32 countries across the
globe.
Across the globe, If you wantto help those who are hurting
and hopeless and discover yourgreater purpose in serving,
check out our website, rfwmaorgand find out how to get involved
.
Popular Podcasts
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!