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Personal Devotions

I’ve written before about my participation with HelloMornings. Right now I don’t do very well at keeping up with my group. Honestly, we don’t have our schedule nailed down well enough for that right now. On a “perfect” morning, I get up well before the kids and study, then tweet with my group. Regardless of whether the day is perfect, my “quiet time” consists of four things:

• Prayer
• Bible study
• Journaling
• A parenting book

The first thing I do is pray that the Lord would guide me in my reading, helping me to get from it what He would have for me. Ideally, throughout my study time I am in continual conversation with the Lord about what I am reading and on behalf of others. I say “ideally” because the truth is that some days I become too focused on crossing the entire exercise off my list, and I never open that line of communication with the Lord.

Currently, I’m using the Bible study Glorious Grace to guide my reading. This book leads the reader in an in-depth study, focusing on a single short passage for a full week. I’ve done other studies by the same authors, and really enjoyed them. After I’ve read the passage for the day, I journal my thoughts. The Glorious Grace study has prompts for each day’s consideration. Sometimes I write based off those, and other times the Lord leads me elsewhere. I try to also journal any prayer prompted by the passage.

I made my own journal page, which I print a couple dozen at a time and keep in a 3-ring binder. You’re welcome to use the page, as well, if you wish. You can find it here: Plumfield Dreams Journal Page.

Lastly, as long as no child is calling for my attention, I read a chapter from a book about parenting. Sometimes the book is practical (perhaps about discipline) and sometimes it is philosophical. Sally Clarkson and Rachel Jankovic at two of my favorite authors to read during this time. Right now I’m reading Ted Tripp’s Shepherding a Child’s Heart.

Devotions with the Kids

My absolute favorite Bible for children is the Jesus Storybook Bible. My parents gave Aria this version. It’s beautiful. Right now we read it each morning while Aria eats breakfast. I have tried reading it to her at various times, but she’s not patient, so the result was usually that I read the first page and then she started trying to turn pages constantly. Eventually I had the epiphany that if I just read it to her while she’s in her high chair, she is excited and engaged, and doesn’t try to wrestle it away from me. We usually read two or three passages each morning.

Right now that’s the extent of our routine. Aria is not even two yet, so we’re not in a stage that allows for any in-depth discussion. I try to remember to pray out loud throughout the day when I’m thankful for something, or when I (or we) need help in our attitudes, and we always pray with and for Aria before she goes to bed each evening. (In fact, for awhile there she would start to sob as soon as she heard me say “Father…” because she knew it meant she was about to be put to bed. Tee hee. Sorry about that, God.)

Family Devotions

Andy and I have never done devotions together, but we’re starting. So far we’ve been incredibly inconsistent, so…I’ll tell you what our goal is, rather than what we’ve actually managed to this point. 🙂

The idea is that each evening at dinner we will read a passage of scripture together. Of course we eat dinner as a family, so we will all participate in the exercise. At first I thought we would try to use some sort of guide, because I wanted something to help focus our discussion. However, I discovered it’s difficult for my picky self to find something we would like, so instead we are reading through the Bible chronologically. The One Year Bible Online gives you a reading plan for doing this in a year. We’re not attempting to actually finish in a year (good thing, because we got behind on day two), but we are using the plan as a guide. We are purposefully informal in this study. We don’t want it to feel like a chore, or be boring for us or the kids. Our purpose is to make engaging with scripture together a normal part of our day-to-day lives. The inspiration for doing so came from Ann Voskamp, whose family keeps their Bibles by the table and opens them before they get up after each meal. I’m hoping this will just become part of the dinner process, like setting the table. The kids will grow up thinking it’s just what you do at dinnertime.

We have plans to hang a shelf for our Bibles and journals in the dining room. (Just as soon as my father-in-law can locate his stud finder. I know. Ironic.) Once we get it up I’ll post a picture.