All The Time

I was in the bed reading my Bible, and Tanner came in and wanted to read. So, I turned it to Deuteronomy 6:5-9. This is the verse that I pray for my family, so I figured I would show it to him. Well, I was amazed! He could read almost all the words! He read the word strength with no help and commandment was said something like this: come/mend/ment! So, I helped him with that! But we started talking about what all that meant. Before you know it, the whole family is now on the bed and we are discussing what it means. We talked about the meaning of the word commandment; what are the commandments? Then we asked Tanner, what do think it means when God says to talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road? He said, "think about them all the time!". Then we asked what does it mean to impress them on your children? Rebecca says, "Teach it to us just like you're doing now, Mommy"! When it came time to bind it on our foreheads, I thumped Randy on the head! Then we all started bumping each other on the foreheads!

When I was at school, I told Tanner's teacher how well he did reading those scriptures. She told me that he is doing well reading. But, she asked me an important question. I can't remember word for word, but it was something like this! When you read to them out of the Bible, is it better to read to them from your Bible or their children's story Bible. We started discussing how hard it is sometimes to make a specific time for a family devotion and how and what do you do. Of course, we're at school and she does have a classroom, so we had to make it very brief! However, this has had me thinking all week. Almost everyone I know struggles with the same thing. When do we have family devotions? How do we start it? What do we do? I know my life is crazy and I know everyone Else's is just as crazy! We work, go to school, we have church activities, sports, dance, and we have other family members that would love to see us, too! We still have to cook, clean, do laundry and don't forget, HOMEWORK! Sometimes, I think we get so caught up in thinking that things have to be "just right" or we can't do it; so therefore, we end up not doing it. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. We just need to love him, all the time. When we sit, drive, play, work. Whenever, Whatever, Wherever. Love him. If we talk about them all the time, then we will have all the time to impress them on our children. I do feel that it is important to have times where we are sitting together reading our Bible. Which one do we read from? Whichever one fits the moment. I think it is good to read from their own personal Bible, as well as ours. The other day in church, Randy and I were following along in my Bible and he was noticing the notes I've written in the margins on different occasions. They are prayers or notes that I've written to remind me to pray for myself and others. There may be times when the whole family sits together and everyone brings their own Bible and take turns reading from it. You could also let Dad or Mom read straight from their Bible or you could let one of the kids lead the devotion and read from theirs. Sometimes, it might be that you are having to quote scripture while driving down the road and you don't even have your Bible handy to read from! (all the more reason to memorize! I'm working on this myself!) The point is this: Let's take every opportunity, all the time, to impress them on our children and bind them on their foreheads. If we get so caught up trying to figure out how to find the time, we will never find the time. We just do it. All the time. The family devotion that we had the other night was not planned. It just happened. We should make it a point to plan special times just like with anything else, but let's not forget the little things either. We ended our family devotion by singing the chorus to Love the Lord by Lincoln Brewster and everyone took turns praying. Right there, sitting on the bed, in a circle, holding hands. All because Tanner wanted to read. All the Time, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6: 5-9