We haven't always done the family devotion time well. Some seasons of our life have been great and we have been faithful at spending time in the Word as a family. Other seasons have found us somewhat lacking. Thankfully God is faithful and continually calls us back to His Word.
With the change in schedule, school starting and an earlier bedtime, our nightly family devotions have become morning family devotions. We just finished The Jesus Storybook Bible again. I'm not sure how many times we have read through this one, but it is a favorite.
Hailey is now bringing home take home sheets from Jesus Time at school and will be bringing home materials from Sunday School, so I think we are going to use those as our starting point for a little while, perhaps until Advent.
Our family devotion time is always interesting. You never know who is going to yell the prayer as loud as they can, or what exactly they are going to pray about. And it is fun to hear Micah saying The Lord's Prayer. He doesn't quite have all of the words exactly right, but he's pretty close.
I'm actually really enjoying our new time, though it is taking Hailey a bit to warm up to the change. She keeps insisting that we can't read the Bible until bedtime. We just forge ahead and know she will catch up when she's ready. I'm shocked that we have time in the morning, but with only one kid to get off to school, it hasn't been too difficult. Hopefully it will continue to be easy.
This is not a post to say, "look how great we are doing," because we aren't. It is a struggle and we are far from perfect. It is simply to document for me what we have been doing.
I would love to hear any of your suggestions on material or ideas.
We've been reading the Story Bible (from CPH) and I love it! (Love the Jesus Storybook Bible too). I've been trying to do things on topic of the church year/festivals. Often there is a food to make or craft that is helpful. We also do evening prayer right after dinner (the order for individuals in the hymnal). I'm so impressed at what our eldest can learn. We've been working on the 10 commandments and Apostle's Creed with her. She's pretty much got them down with little prompting. What a blessing you are to your family!
ReplyDeleteSince having kids - I realize how terrible I am in my own walk with the Lord. I am not as diligent about things as I thought - like my devotion time and praying. I want to instill these things in my girls, but if I am not even doing it - how can I pass it on!? I mean, I pray...but I fell into the trap of pray at dinner. Pray at bedtime with the kids. So - I bought a devo book and I lack at that too. I just need to start 1 routine at a time. I want to teach them to pray in the morning - just a simple prayer. Pray before all meals. Pray at bed. That kind of stuff. So - this week I started a new bedtime routine and have been keeping up with it. Next week, I will add the morning prayer and be diligent about it. It's hard...and man kids sure seem to be a mirror back for ourselves!
ReplyDeleteEd and I were pretty random about family devotions when Ephraim was a baby, but when he turned one (and we knew Tabi was on the way in a few months) we decided that we needed to do better and get in the habit (I hate that word) now while they are young. We've used a number of different resources, but basically we have stuck with a variety of Kid's Story Bibles that have been given to the kids for their Baptisms. We do our family devos at bedtime (7 pm) - we read a story, sing a song, and say our prayers (one relating to the story/day/etc., Now I Lay Me, and then the Lord's Prayer).
ReplyDeleteIn the last couple of months we've also added in a morning devotion following the Treasury of Daily Prayer which we do during breakfast. This involves a Psalm, OT reading, NT reading, Writing, Hymn verse, and a Prayer (we follow with the Lord's Prayer again). It also has a special writing for any saints days or commemorations, which is pretty cool.
We're planning on setting aside some space in our foyer as a family altar and beginning to do all of our devotion times there - I'm hoping we'll have that ready by Advent to start with the new year. Also looking forward to getting the new Story Bible from CPH to begin using with the kids. I like what I've seen of it so far and have heard lots of good.
Sorry this was so long - wow! The words just kept coming. Glad the transition has been going well for your family!