ABCs of Family Devotions

You have probably tried to have them.  You have gathered your children in the living room, brought out the leather Bible and tried to have a family devotion time. You read a verse, asked Tommy to quit jumping on the couch, read another verse, tried to distract the baby with a toy, re-read the first verse because you forgot where you were…  Sound familiar?  Then, at the end, you were frustrated and the children were not exactly excited about repeating the experience the next night. What went wrong? Just like many areas in our lives, we tend to make family devotions too complicated.  Maybe you tried, it didn’t go smoothly and you gave up.  Or, maybe you have wanted to institute a family devotion time but didn’t know where to begin. If so, here are three simple tips for starting a family devotion time at your home tonight.

A – Be aware.

Be aware of what works for  your family.  Just because that blog you read shows a family huddled around the morning breakfast table doesn’t mean that is right for your family.  Pay attention to when your family is most available and receptive to some reading time. Some may find that the early morning does, in fact, work best for them.  For others, the afternoon may work best after lunch and naps have been done for the day.  Yet another option is during bath time.  This tends to be a relaxing  time for children and you have a captive audience. As you analyze your family’s flow throughout the course of a day, you will be able to determine what works best for your household.

B – Be brief.

A common source of discouragement is the feeling that you didn’t do enough.  The reality, however, is that brief is often better.  The goal is not to read through the Bible in thirty days, check it off a list and pat yourself on the back.  The goal is to spend time daily with the Lord as a family. Children have short attention spans.  And, if we are honest, adults are often not much different.  It is better to read just a few verses, have some meaningful discussion and prayer time and end on a good note.  After all, you always have the next day to read a little more.  And that brings us to our third tip.

C – Be consistent.

It’s been said that it takes thirty days to make something a habit.  If you have never done family devotions then it may, at first, seem awkward or forced.  The key is to keep doing it.   Begin with just a verse or two, but do it consistently each day.  Soon, you will find that your family will want to finish the chapter or reach the end of that story. God’s Word is an exciting thing .  With just a little consistency,  your family will be captivated and family devotions will become the best part of your day – whatever time of day you do them.