A Child's Daily Devotion

A few days ago I read a wonderful posting at Passionate Homemaking. It was eye-opening and challenging at the same time. A few paragraphs down she said, "Your children may be at an age where you can start helping them develop their own quiet time. Guide them in learning how to pray, look at Bible story books (Jesus Storybook Bible, Big Picture Story Bible), listen to a CD of Christian music, watch a Bible story DVD, or color Bible story pictures. I remember using Keys for Kids when I first launched into my own quiet times. They are free and can be ordered in paperback copies or downloaded on the web. While they do that, you can have your own quiet time."

This small paragraph really got me thinking. My 5-yr old is reading now (32 books so far) and doing very well. So why is he not reading THE most important book of his life?! WOW!!! I followed her advise & looked up Keys for Kids and signed up for their daily emails. The emails are sent every morning to my inbox & I just copy/paste them into a Word document and print them out for him. I lay them on his Bible. They are ready & waiting when he awakes. Now, ideally I would LOVE for him to get up and run straight to his Bible for his daily reading. However, my son is NOT a morning person and he needs time to wake up. Time to adjust to the surroundings again and time to eat his breakfast (usually consisting of a pop-tart (when we have them) or most recently a cinnamon roll). At 10am the TV is shut off for the day and I play soft Christian music throughout the remainder of the day. (We are working on cutting out TV from their daily schedules, but so far we've only dramatically shortened their watching times.)

Anyway, I was impressed by these daily devotions for young children. They give a scripture reference to read and a story that relates to their everyday lives. My husband was even impressed. My son has given me some brief grief about more reading, but honestly once he gets into it...he can't stop!! If you have young children that are learning to read or can already read, I highly encourage you to start them on their daily journey with God. He wants to know them - EVEN NOW!!!! They need to know Him - ESPECIALLY NOW!!!! A child's faith is something to behold and it has been such a JOY watching my son get excited when he finds the verses for the day - or like today he asked if he could just read the WHOLE CHAPTER!!!! Uh...SURE!!! ;) I am so thankful that someone saw it important to blog about getting your own children started on a Bible devotion/reading time. I hope you will take the challenge too!!

Blessings!