Silent Training

We do a little thing in our house called family worship. We try to do it every night. We call our tribe into the living room and snuggle up on the sofas. Dad reads the Bible, we sing songs together and end with a time of prayer. It’s one of my favorite times of the day.

Luke makes the Bible time fun. He’ll read stories inserting wrong words here and there – like God used Adam’s toenail to make Eve. All the kids giggle and say “No, it was Adam’s rib!” We let the kids choose songs for us to sing together and often we take turns praying for each other. I love this time of investing in their hearts every day.

God prompted us to set aside this daily time when He drew our attention to the silent training we do with our kids. I felt God pointing me to notice the things I do every single day. What do my kids see me do consistently, every day? 

Computer. Check. Cell phone. Check. Television. Check. Dishes, laundry, cleaning. Check. But, Luke and I both spend our time with God early in the mornings before the kids get up. My spirit rumbled when I realized my kids did not see us set aside a time every day to just hang out with God. Enter: family worship.

If you’re reading and thinking, I’d like to try this with my family, I feel I should warn you – Kids act like kids, even during family worship!

Sometimes little sister decides to sing “Let It Go” and the whole time she sings her older brothers holler that it is not a “Jesus song.” We manage the tussle and try to move along, but five minutes later Sis is still singing with pauses to wail, “I haven’t finished yet!”

Or sometimes Dad has us all raise our right feet and point them towards the person to our right to find out who we get to pray for that night, which is fun up until the moment one brother refuses to pray for another. “I don’t want to pray for him,” he cries while crocodile tears roll down his cheeks.

We remind him how much he loves his brother. We invite him to pray first and get it over with, which backfires. So we decide to let him pray last hoping by the time we work our way around the circle he’ll have pulled himself together. Nope. Instead, Dad ends up praying for the brother assigned to Micah, Micah wipes his snotty nose on the sofa and walks to bed with puffy eyes – at which point he crawls into bed and says, “I never said my prayer.”

So, first things first, tear up any perfect family worship picture you’ve painted in your mind!

The great thing about family worship is that it’s family. Don’t set unrealistic expectations. Start with a short 5-10 minute time. As the kids get used to the time it will likely grow longer, but the point is not to attain super-holiness, it’s to be together as a family and make God smile.

I’d love for you to try your own family worship. If you do, here a few things to consider.

1. What time will you do it? Pick a time you can commit to almost every day. We do ours right before bedtime. I know some people who gather around the breakfast table and start their day with family worship. Find what works for your family.

2. How will you do it? We include Bible, signing and prayer. Think about the ages of your crew and decide how much or how little is appropriate. No need to make it drag on too long. Keep it short if you need to, especially in the beginning.

3. What is your purpose? This one’s so important, because on those day’s when family worship seems to cause more harm than good, or your schedule squeezes you to the max, you’ll need to come back to how you answer this and trust that God is pleased even when your efforts fail.

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)

I’d love to hear your questions about family worship, or if you already have a time like this in your home, Leave a comment! and share it with me.