By Lori Merrill
Ever since our children could sit in a high chair our family has had devotional times together at the breakfast table. This was our best time to gather to read Scripture and have a devotional to encourage, challenge, and inspire us. I also viewed this as a time to teach my children about the Lord and His Word. My husband was often traveling or left earlier than our breakfast time, so usually it was me who led the family devotions while they were growing up (until their last few years before college). I loved this time of beginning my day in God’s Word with my children.
As each child began to leave for college we found this time became a little more challenging. We aren’t together at breakfast anymore as a family and we rarely are together on the weekends for church. So, by the time our second child left for college we were really struggling for a way to stay connected spiritually with them. Here is one of the ways that my husband continues to lead our family spiritually and it only takes a few minutes of his time each morning.
- Steve spends a few minutes perusing www.crosswalk.com. He clicks on the devotional tab. There are quite a few to choose from.
- He looks them over and the one he feels most applicable to us, as prompted by the Lord, is the one he chooses that day.
- He “copies” and “pastes” it into an email for us and then sends it to me and our three children.
Each devotional has a Scripture to read and then a little teaching time written by a theologian/Bible study teacher. We have found this to be the best way for us to converse about spiritual things, even though it happens through email. We don’t “hound” our children to make sure they are reading each devotional. We don’t believe that is our job anymore (my hubby has to remind me of this). If the message is particularly meaningful or if one of us needs prayer about something then we “reply all” and ask for prayer or make a comment.
We have been especially encouraged the times that Steve has been tardy in sending a devotional and the boys sent him a message that said, “Where’s my devo Pops?” God knows that encouragement is what we need as parents! I hope this idea helps you stay connected with your children as they leave home and I would love to hear the things that your family does as well!
