Just in case you missed my devo earlier this week over at the AT THE WELL homepage, I wanted to share it with you here as well. I cannot think of a better topic to share on this NEW YEARS DAY than a challenge to make this new year a year of making "quiet time" with God a priority.
I can remember when my children were very small, we had a designated "quiet time." This was a time of the day that the younger children would take their badly needed nap and the rest of us would just get still and quiet for an hour. Whether it was coloring or reading a book or laying on our back staring at the ceiling ... ALL of us would get quiet.
As our children grew and our schedules became more hectic, that time of "quietness" and "being still" faded from our lives. How unfortunate that this also describes our quiet time with the Lord.
LAMENTATIONS 3:23 "Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day." (NLT)
Each day is a new day with Him, and why we do not take time to be still in His presence each day just baffles me. In today's hustle and bustle of life, it is so easy to justify not having time for daily devotions or family devotions. But really, with a little bit of creativity and discipline, I believe that every family can take time to become quiet before God.
If having family devotions is difficult for you because of your schedules or because your children will not sit still long enough...I suggest you shake it up a bit! That's right ... who says family devotion time has to be done around the kitchen table?
When driving around town...pop in a bible story tape and ask your younger children questions about the story. Make family devotional time a LEARNING EXPERIENCE!
Gather the family around the den and play a game ... after reading a bible story, toss a ball of yarn to a person and ask a question, when they answer it correctly, they toss the ball of yarn to another person. continue until someone cannot answer a question. Make family devotional time FUN!
Got teens? Bring your family devotional to where they are at...text a devotion and ask a thought provoking question that everyone has to text the answer back. Or post your family devotional on facebook. Make family devotional time UNIQUE!
There are ton of ideas (and a lot of great family devotional books) available to help initiate your family quiet time. Really HOW you do it is not as important as JUST doing it!
This was good and I couldn't agree more. We did the exact same thing when my kids were young too. Didn't care what "quiet" activity they picked, as long as you were QUIET. And as they grew up, devotions became soo difficult as they were all going in different directions. If they had texting back then what a wonderful idea that would have been. Soo much to work with these days. I did do the tapes in the player in the car though, and that was great. It is definitely as well one of the things I have decided to personally work on in 2010. MORE quiet time with Him, and time of just being still and KNOWING He is Lord. Thanks for sharing this today. Blessings, Debbie
ReplyDeleteWe all need this message...especially at the start of the year to be reminded.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
I love your blog, first time to see it and am impressed by your dedication and faith, keep on. praying for you.
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