We were taking turns praying the other morning, when I heard a rather strange noise.
Was that a clown horn???
I was just about to forget about it, when I heard it again. And again. And again. I finally realized that it was my oldest son's cell phone. He had changed his 'text tone' to a clown horn. For whatever reason, this struck me as hysterically funny. I don't know why. So as my poor husband tried to do some serious praying, I was shaking all over trying not to lose it. Pretty soon, I was snickering and snorting, the exact thing that my middle children struggle with three-fourths of the time when we attempt to do our family devotions. Believe me, it didn't take them long to join me in my tirade. My turn to pray came around much too soon. I tried to get control of myself. I really, really tried.
'Thank you God for laughter and clown horns,' I hiccuped.
To which, my cronies and I double-overed, howling. Why? I don't really know. It wasn't even very funny.
I wish I could say that was the end of the distractions. But it wasn't. We are supposed to have a certain order to things when we pray. I start, then our oldest child is second, all the way down to the youngest, in that order. Eric is the clo-ser. But Owen, our youngest, likes to buck the system every single time. I call him our charismatic child, as he jumps in whenever he feelsspirit-led with a 'Oh, LOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDD, please......'. When he is not trying to impress us with his long dissertations, he will simply say, 'What Jeremiah said'. This day was no exception.
Too often, so goes our devotion time together. It could honestly be mistaken for a circus of clowns...
Owen launches into his attention-getting antics, setting off Wes and Sophie's uncontrolled snickering...Eric vanquishes Owen from the premises and Joshua asks, 'how long is this going to take???'...at some point the dog suddenly barks wildly (at what, we don't know) and Owen calls every few minutes from upstairs saying he's ready to behave...the doorbell rings with our neighbor requesting that Jeremiah come out to play...then someone must get up to use the bathroom...and so on and so forth. After jumping through all of these interruptive hoops, I will forced-cheerfully ask, 'What spoke to you in that passage?'
Silence. Blank stares. Crickets.
And I wish that I was exaggerating right about now.
When my friend visited us this summer, she took this picture of our morning gathering.
Was that a clown horn???
I was just about to forget about it, when I heard it again. And again. And again. I finally realized that it was my oldest son's cell phone. He had changed his 'text tone' to a clown horn. For whatever reason, this struck me as hysterically funny. I don't know why. So as my poor husband tried to do some serious praying, I was shaking all over trying not to lose it. Pretty soon, I was snickering and snorting, the exact thing that my middle children struggle with three-fourths of the time when we attempt to do our family devotions. Believe me, it didn't take them long to join me in my tirade. My turn to pray came around much too soon. I tried to get control of myself. I really, really tried.
'Thank you God for laughter and clown horns,' I hiccuped.
To which, my cronies and I double-overed, howling. Why? I don't really know. It wasn't even very funny.
I wish I could say that was the end of the distractions. But it wasn't. We are supposed to have a certain order to things when we pray. I start, then our oldest child is second, all the way down to the youngest, in that order. Eric is the clo-ser. But Owen, our youngest, likes to buck the system every single time. I call him our charismatic child, as he jumps in whenever he feels
Too often, so goes our devotion time together. It could honestly be mistaken for a circus of clowns...
Owen launches into his attention-getting antics, setting off Wes and Sophie's uncontrolled snickering...Eric vanquishes Owen from the premises and Joshua asks, 'how long is this going to take???'...at some point the dog suddenly barks wildly (at what, we don't know) and Owen calls every few minutes from upstairs saying he's ready to behave...the doorbell rings with our neighbor requesting that Jeremiah come out to play...then someone must get up to use the bathroom...and so on and so forth. After jumping through all of these interruptive hoops, I will forced-cheerfully ask, 'What spoke to you in that passage?'
Silence. Blank stares. Crickets.
When my friend visited us this summer, she took this picture of our morning gathering.
It's a panorama picture, so it's a bit distorted, yet at the same time--distorted is probably the most accurate description. Distorted, chaotic and about as imperfect as they come. Joshua is standing in the back, looking at his watch, probably biting the lip back on his impatience. Owen is jumping on Jeremiah, Can't-sit-still-Sophie is lounging back fidgeting, while Wes is laying on the floor messing with the dog. As Eric looks up at the ceiling--trying not to lose his cool over the craziness--I'm giving 'the look' to people from the corner.
Ever since my oldest was young, we've made it a priority to read God's Word together. It has hardly ever went smoothly. There have ALWAYS been issues and distractions. If there weren't phones ringing and door bells chiming, there were crying toddlers, dirty diapers, arguing among siblings or poor attitudes. When I was tempted to throw in the towel and give up, God would bring to mind these three verses:
Isaiah 55:11: so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
Ever since my oldest was young, we've made it a priority to read God's Word together. It has hardly ever went smoothly. There have ALWAYS been issues and distractions. If there weren't phones ringing and door bells chiming, there were crying toddlers, dirty diapers, arguing among siblings or poor attitudes. When I was tempted to throw in the towel and give up, God would bring to mind these three verses:
Isaiah 55:11: so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
In a still, small whisper, He would remind me that opening up scripture together does far more than the naked eye can see. He would remind me that the enemy is the Great Distractor and will go to great lengths to disrupt our time. He would remind me to press on and lean in because He is the Ultimate Victor. Thus, since those early days of toddlerhood, we've offered up mere crumbs, trusting Him to multiply it into thousands of loaves in a way that only He can.
Now that our kids go to school, these morning devotionals that involve the whole family can only take place on summer breaks or on non-school days. When they first started attending school, we really tried to find a way that we could all come together in the morning, but it was like trying to juggle on a tightrope. We finally realized it was too difficult and we needed to adjust and tweak how we did things. Gone were our laid back homeschooling days of waking up and beginning the day in God's Word together. This was a new season and we had to come up with a new system.
What we found works for us is taking about ten minutes in the morning reading a bible verse along with a short devotional and then taking turns praying. Because our children catch the bus at different times, we do this in shifts--once with the olders and once with the youngers.
Our lengthier time of reading God's Word happens around the dinner table in the evening. We aim for one chapter. This isn't always accomplished--there are times we have to shorten it and there are special occasions when we substitute in an interesting blog post or testimony. But it's what we aim for. And I can honestly say, most evenings we are able to make this happen. Even if we have to eat together at 8:00 or 9:00 PM, we make it happen because it's important to us.
What we found works for us is taking about ten minutes in the morning reading a bible verse along with a short devotional and then taking turns praying. Because our children catch the bus at different times, we do this in shifts--once with the olders and once with the youngers.
Our lengthier time of reading God's Word happens around the dinner table in the evening. We aim for one chapter. This isn't always accomplished--there are times we have to shorten it and there are special occasions when we substitute in an interesting blog post or testimony. But it's what we aim for. And I can honestly say, most evenings we are able to make this happen. Even if we have to eat together at 8:00 or 9:00 PM, we make it happen because it's important to us.
This past summer I read one of those life-changing books--a book that probably many of you have read: The Hiding Place. I by-passed this book for many a year because I thought it would be sad and I really don't enjoy sad books (real life events bring about enough of that). I was pleasantly surprised, though, to find a theme of joyfulness and hope running through it that far outweighed the sadness.
I bring this book up, not to discuss it in detail with you (although that would be fun), but to discuss one particular point in the book that deeply impacted me. Corrie ten Boom, the author of this autobiography, describes how her father began each day reading the Bible out loud to their family. When bringing up this fact, she doesn't discuss that they were all riveted on listening intently to her father. In fact, you get the feeling that it may have been quite the opposite--a bit boring and monotonous, day in and day out.
In the moment, those hum-drum daily readings may not have seemed to result in anything significant. Yet, years later, when Corrie ten Boom and her family are sent to a concentration camp, those years of faithful reading breathe life into their dismal situation. As Corrie and her sister read out loud from a smuggled Bible each evening in the concentration camp's bunkhouse, they reenact that which their father had done for them growing up. The result? The women in that bunkhouse are miraculously able to have hope and peace in a dark situation.
Such is the power of the Gospel.
Recently, a friend shared with me about how her parents made she and her four siblings get up each morning before school, sit at the breakfast table while her parents read from the Bible and then hold hands and pray together. She comically described how unexcited they were to have to get up and do this day in and day out and the creative discipline her mom came up with when they tried to buck the system. I asked her if she and all of her siblings were now walking with the Lord. Her answer? Yes. All five of them.
Such is the power of the Gospel.
These stories encourage Eric and I to keep pressing on in reading God's Word together with our family. It encourages us to press on even when it feels like it's not making a difference, when chaos and disorder seem to rule, and when unbecoming attitudes and blank stares seem to get the upper hand. Like depositing a small amount of money into a bank account regularly, over time, these small deposits of Truth are going to amass into a substantial amount of wealth.
A wealth of wisdom.
Dear friend, it's never too late to begin. Find a time that will work for your family and start today. Speak His Word out loud and allow those all-powerful, life filled words to wash over and sprinkle down upon your children, filling in the crevices, the gaps and the short-comings. Ask the Great Multiplier to take your inadequate little and turn it into substantially more than you could ever hope or imagine.
You will be tempted to give up. You will be tempted to cave to your busy schedule. The Tempter will throw out all kinds of roadblocks. You will have to be intentional and press on even when you don't feel like it.
But keep on keeping on, because there is great power in the Gospel.
A wealth of wisdom.
Dear friend, it's never too late to begin. Find a time that will work for your family and start today. Speak His Word out loud and allow those all-powerful, life filled words to wash over and sprinkle down upon your children, filling in the crevices, the gaps and the short-comings. Ask the Great Multiplier to take your inadequate little and turn it into substantially more than you could ever hope or imagine.
You will be tempted to give up. You will be tempted to cave to your busy schedule. The Tempter will throw out all kinds of roadblocks. You will have to be intentional and press on even when you don't feel like it.
But keep on keeping on, because there is great power in the Gospel.
