Background: A few years ago my husband and I committed to re-aligning our family to be more spiritually centered. One day we woke up realizing our family priories were out of whack. We were eating on the run (not at the dinner table as a family), we were shuffling back and forth from home to hockey rink (not bible study), we were driving to church separately because one of us had to leave early to get someone to practice (not enjoying fellowship with church friends). We committed to focusing our eyes on the Lord and teaching our children by doing what we would want of and for them. (By the way, not having the kids in Hockey was harder on us than it was on the kids. We missed seeing them on the ice but they loved having their ‘time’ back to play and just be kids).
We have really focused on reading the bible with our kids and to our little ones, daily devotionals for all the kids (even the little ones), talking about what they learn in Sunday school & youth group, participating in church events and following up with family activities from sunday school. We are far more selective on how we spend our time now and guard our family time as it is very precious to us.
The Writings On The Wall
About 5 months ago I listened to a sermon on Deutronomy. Afterwards this particular piece of scripture was weighing heavily on my heart.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
I really felt called to diligently teach my children the commandments of the Lord. I couldn’t kick the feeling of not screwing this up. How in the world can I follow through with what this scripture is calling us to do?? So I prayed on it and eventually found some clarity. My husband had placed decorative scripture on our walls to help remind us of who we live our lives for and why we do what we do but I still felt called to do more. The kids were given scripture verses to memorize each week and would bring them home printed out on paper to hang up at home why not write them on the walls? So I did. Ok so I didn’t write all over all walls. I used something that we all look at multiple times a day…the mirror!
Each week when the kids received a new scripture for memorization I would write it on the mirror in their bathroom & the mudroom bathroom. I also would select other scripture for a mirror in our entryway and the one in our master bath. These were to help my husband and I as well. It has gone well and the kids have responded well to it. I like that it gives me more time on my devotionals and those that I do with the little ones as well. It’s also nice to provide prompts for discussions on some of them as a family when the kids have questions.
It’s not too much work on my part and it has been pretty successful at the Menne home. You can even find inexpensive dry erase markers at the dollar store. 🙂
If you have any ideas from your families please share! I am certainly not an expert and appreciate other ideas.
Menne Thoughts 