Mealtime Moments

  You know how it says in Deuteronomy 11:19, 'Teach them (God's precepts) to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  That can be an overwhelming thought to talk about God throughout the day.  We can easily remember to pray before meals and bedtime but what about the rest of the time?  .

I have always envisioned dinner time to be like a Norman Rockwell picture.  Chatting and sharing about our day while enjoying a healthy meal together.

Suffice it to say Norman does not live at my house because our portrait might look a tad bit different then this one.  

In trying to strike the right tone we have usedMealtime Moments from Focus on the Family.It has donned our dinner table for years (you can tell by the stains and crinkled edges).  It is a spiral flip card book that lays out a simple devotional that really crosses the age gap with our kids.  It is layed out as follows:

Mealtime Prayer kicks off the theme.

Appetizer of questions to lead the conversation.

Main Course dives into the lesson.

Table Talk gives application to the main course through discussion questions.

Vitamins and Minerals reference scripture passages.

My husband loves that it is ready to go, no preparation needed, he simply leads the discussion.  You would be surprised by the dynamics that the devotional reveals! We have enjoyed integrating this devotional into our dinner time.

Blessings,

E.W.

Family Devotions

We have had many great family fun nights over the years.  Spending time together playing and in the Word sticks in their memory more than any other activity that we do together.  It has been challenging as they get older to keep everybody focused and involved.  This week our  pastor has been preaching in 1 Corinthians 13.  I have been studying the passage during my quiet time and came up with the idea of breaking down the love verses into pieces and playing charades.  You have to insert your name for the word love.

We laughed and giggled as we tried to convey our part of the passage.  Sissy caught on quickly; and since she has the passage memorized she was the one to guess most of the verses.  After we finished the game we lined up all the verses in order and read them and talked about which ones come easily to us and which ones we need to work on and pray more about.  Patience was the top pick for me, I can feel the strain of summer's lackadaisical, non-routine, 'come what may' taking its toll!
I love these nights too.  I pray many more to come.

Blessings,
E.W.