What Will Your Children Find You Doing?

As we head back to yet another school year I am reminded that we need to be fed by the Word if we are going to feed our children anything worthwhile.

The other morning during my quiet time I found myself watching for my coffee-drinking daughter to appear so we could exchange greetings and smiles.

I hadn’t realized how much I look forward to that first glimpse of her each morning.

From there my thoughts moved to reminiscing about where my children find me each morning.

I’ve always had a place where I have my daily quiet time with the Lord. We just moved here 6 years ago after being in our former home for 14 years. At our previous home my “spot” was in the living room, right near the bottom of the stairs to the bedrooms. Since I usually got up earlier than our children, when they came down they would usually find me in my quiet time spot, and would sit in the chair beside me to snuggle until they were fully awake.

When we moved my chair didn’t change, but my spot did. Now I’m at the top of the stairs with a view of the entry and stairs going to our children’s bedrooms, so I am still where I’m one of the first things they see each morning.

I didn’t do this purposefully, yet I’ve realized how much of an impression it has made on them over the years to know that each morning their mother is meeting with the Lord. It seems like such a little thing, but children are very impressionable and I hope this is one of the ways they will always “picture” me.

We started to teach our children from a very early age that this was the proper way for a believer to begin each day. Remember that they are great imitators and the old saying about more being caught than taught really applies to putting good habits in place.

In a previous article, “Quiet Times in Busy Homes” I share how we began to train our children to have a daily quiet time.

Now at ages 20, 22, & 24 it is a habit that is firmly in place and we seldom have to remind someone about it – just like our beds are always made first thing in the morning. It truly is rare for there to be an unmade bed in our home or a day to go by without each of us having a quiet time.

Yes, alone these seem like little things, but little step by little step, we’ve built good habits into our daily schedule until they are rote – We rarely even think about making our beds, because it’s just what we do when we get out of them. Our schedule has changed many times over the years we’ve homeschooled, but that first hour or so in the morning never has — we get up, make our beds, take care of personal hygiene, and have a quiet time with the Lord.

Since we have a God of order I think He expects us to build order into our lives too. I’ve often shared verses like this with our children to show them that God put things in order – and that we never have to wonder where the moon, sun, or stars might be.

Gen 1:16 -17 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,”

We are currently working to add exercise into our lives. I’m hoping that this too will become part of our weekly routine so that we won’t have to work so hard at being sure it gets done.

Now its your turn. What are some ways you have built order into your lives?

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Phyllis Sather

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