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Dear Friends,
Devotions for
“Active” Families…
We’ve all been
there… Sitting down at the dinner
table having just finished eating, dad pulls out the devotional book, and
the kids suddenly become fidgety!
You struggle to get something from God’s WORD into their thoughts,
but after a while all you want to do is get through it!
Let me share some
thoughts from Carolyn Williford’s book “Devotions for Families that Can’t Sit Still”
from Victor Books that may offer some solutions:
“Our basic building block is integration.
To integrate Christianity means essentially to allow it to touch,
enter, and affect every aspect of life.
1.
Plan Ahead
One lesson we definitely learned: quality
family nights do not just happen. If
we have not purposefully planned and evening, it seems to just drift away.
2.
Set
Realistic Goals
The key is to decide on a realistic
number of nights a week to have devos. Planning on too much
sets us up for failure, guilt, and eventual loss of any devotional
family time at all.
3.
Be
Flexible
If I can be flexible, expecting plans to fall
through and other great ideas to go sour, I can survive and
continue. Flexibility is the key!
4.
Allow
for “Just Plain Fun”
We believe that and element of fun is important,
and the benefit of this has been that our kids truly enjoy and look
forward to our family nights.
However, please note that this does not mean our devotions have no
substance. Content and substance
can be communicated in a fun way, and most of our devotions fall into
this category.
5.
Don’t
Let Guilt Get in the Way!
When we miss a family devotion time, we decide
not to allow guilt to hinder or diminish our commitment. We just plan on trying again next
week. And if next week gets lost
in the shuffle too, I just begin again, and again, and again.
6.
Build
on Prayer
The foundation guide, and bonding
point of our family devotions is prayer. I like to think of it as a
saturation process. I ask for
wisdom beforehand to know what God would have us do; we ask that He would
use the devotional to meet our family’s needs; and finally we pray for
each other and those for whom we feel concern. There is a special bonding that takes
place when a family prays together.”
While it
would be terrific to have devotions every night, sometimes it is just not
feasible. One rule of thumb – try
to have them more often than not.
Next issue we will focus on a basic outline for running a family
devotion. See you then!
Building families,
Bruce McCracken
Founder, House on the Rock Family Ministries
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If you
found this information helpful, we have made other Pebbles of Truth articles
available on our website (www.hotrfm.org). Each month we feature
articles on the topics of: men's issues, marriage, blended families,
parenting, and church ministry to families. You will also find a
great deal more information about House on the Rock Family Ministries!
Thanks for visiting.
Please
feel free to forward this to friends and family … we just ask that you
keep it intact … thanks
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