What works for us – Family Devotions

I have always heard stories about families who do devotions every morning before they leave to go to school or families that did devotions every night before they went to bed.  I have always longed to be one of those families, but figuring out how to make it happen has always been a challenge.

Let me be real – we are NOT morning people!  No one in my family (except maybe Courtney who is in overdrive ALL the time) likes to communicate when they wake up.  Honestly, we have found the less we communicate first thing in the morning, the nicer we can be to each other the rest of the day.

So if not in the morning, what about at night?  Yet another problem arises.   Our nightly schedule  includes football, dance and youth group.  This means we get home LATE! During football season there is not a week night  that we walk through our doors before 8:30 pm.  When we get home kids need showers, homework that needs to be finished and well, bed!  By this point the kids are exhausted and need to be in bed.

So this year, we tried something new.  It still lacks the full affect since we are missing a major member of our family, the daddy, but for now it works.  We have family devotions in the car on the way to school.  By the time we get in the car we have all been up at least an hour, had breakfast and are ready for our 30 minute ride to school.

How does this work?  One of the kids reads the scripture, we discuss it, and then we pray for our day.  Its not always a long indepth conversation – remember we aren’t morning people, but they hear the word every morning before they leave me for the day.  It’s not a very traditional way to do family devotions, but I realized a long time ago we are not the Cleavers and the truth is we don’t have to be.  I, and my family,  have to live by God’s standards and that alone.  Sometimes it’s not about creating more time, it’s about using the time you have wisely.

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