Family.
Worship.
Time.
These three little words, when put together, suddenly become a huge to-do with rules and perfectionism attached.
I once thought Family Worship Time looked a certain way. I even went so far as to line all my children up in chairs in front of me. I gave them Bibles and hymnals to juggle and required they sit there, moving very little, and speaking even less.
It didn’t go well.
Yet, I held on to an ideal. I was just sure Family Worship Time was nothing less than Daddy reading Scripture, Mommy leading songs, children chiming in with brilliant, spiritually sound comments on it all. Everything we did seemed to fall miserably short.
Finally, God showed me I needed to separate those three little words and take them for what they truly meant and not force them into some unattainable expectation I had created. Here’s what I’ve learned:
FAMILY – Whoever is present in the home at the time equals family. Daddy works some rather odd hours, so he’s not always here when everyone is awake. Sometimes, one of the children is visiting Grandma. Often, baby is sleeping. We also have lots of guests in our home. Any one of these could cause me to think Family Worship Time can’t be had, but with that kind of thinking, we’d never connect on a spiritual level.
WORSHIP – If the central focus is God’s Word, it’s worship. That means Family Worship Time can consist of Bible reading, spiritual discussions with as many family members as can be present, reading of Bible-based character training books like Created for Work: Practical Insights for Young Men
or Beautiful Girlhood. Singing songs together. Working on Scripture memory together. The list goes on and on!
TIME – Whenever you get the first two together. It isn’t a requirement that you have Family Worship Time around the breakfast table or in a straight line of folding chairs before bed. Perhaps one morning, Daddy is home a little longer than usual and calls everyone in to hear what he is reading in his Bible that morning. Perhaps Daddy is working late, and Mommy gathers the children around her at the piano to sing songs to pass the time. Maybe Family Worship Time tends to naturally happen during the school day or while everyone is cleaning up after supper. It doesn’t have to be the same time and the same place every single day to be worshipful!
Don’t get caught up in perfectionism and miss the essence of what Family Worship Time is truly all about:
Family.
Worship.
Time.
This post is linked to:
Works For Me Wednesday
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I so needed to hear this! We try to have a formalized family worship time once a week but sometimes because of all the reasons you mentioned, it does not happen and then I get discouraged. I think I need to let go of the “formal” aspect a bit more and take advantage more of all the informal moments!
In our home, we have a regular time set asside for study of the scriptures, but it isn’t always formal. Many of my favorite spiritual discussions with the family have been the spontaneous ones where a teaching moment was recognized and siezed while driving down the road or doing chores together for examples. I love them so much that I find myself praying for more of those moments!
Thanks Amy, this is a great post, because like most of us, I do feel as if it must go just so. And it usually doesn’t. Then it is easy to get discouraged and feel like giving up. Thanks for sharing practical ways of what family worship can look like!
I did the same thing when my kids were little… and came to the same conclusions! I realized that living the spirit of the law is much more fulfilling than living the letter of the law. I was also surprised to learn that the kids learn really well with legos, bionicles, and drawing supplies in hand! Family worship time rocks!
So true! I’ve struggled with this. If someone is spending the night with Nana or my husband isn’t home, it usually doesn’t happen. I need to be more relaxed in my definition of family worship!
GREAT point! In my opinion, some churches need to latch onto this as well! Most of our family worship time happens in the car, driving to Wal-Mart, in Wal-Mart, on a nature hike, etc. It’s rare that we actually sit in our living room with structured worship. We love to “Jam” in the van as we go to and fro. Thing is the bible says we are to talk with our child as we’re raising up, laying dow, coming and going.
I am glad God spoke to your heart in this way.
It is hard finding the balance for family worship.My girls are very involved with church actitivtes which is great but we also speak about the wonder of our Lord in our days, we admire the sunshine and thank God for it.
I have given you an award on my blog. Thank you for a great blog for me to read.
Our family worship time often occurs when we pray before meals (which usually includes prayers for more than just food) and sometimes at night when my older child brings me her children’s Bible and asks us to read it. Then we all sit together and read and learn. Simple. It’s all they can handle now (being 2.5 and 11 months!). Worship sometimes is us driving in the car, singing along to praise and worship songs too! I can’t wait until they sing along.
Sounds like wise advice. Good post! Thank you.
THANK YOU for this post! If you wrote it for anyone, it must’ve been for me! We have a “blended” family with visitation schedules to juggle, so we aren’t all together every day/night! I tend to be the type A personality- where its all or nothing. Perfect or not at all. Thank you for the definitions of Family, Worship and Time! I will print this post out and put it where I can regularly put myself (and motives) in check!
WOW! Loved this post! I am always trying to figure out how to do family worship time during the day. And I have that same image of the children lined up listening, etc. You gave some wonderful advice today, just like always!
I think you are 100% right in this post. It is so funny how we put so much emphasis on the “procedure” that we miss opportunities in everyday life to share a devotion time with our kids. A boo boo can be a great time to discuss what a GREAT PHYSICIAN the Lord is!
Such wisdom. Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned with others.
Sounds like you’ve hit on the true meaning of worship:-)
Blessings,
Mary
What a wonderful reminder! Sometimes I forget that I can still enhance our relationship with the Savior by reading scriptures with the family members that are home at the time.
Thank you for sharing this Amy… it has really encouraged me!
We make a lot of “joyful noise” and have a lot of fun!!
Two of our personal favourite ways to do this are
Colin Buchanan- Australian singer, does many CDs for kids, we love dancing to “Super saviour”-
“Who can save the day? Take our sins away? Who can rescue us with mighty power? Super saviour to the rescue! Super saviour, mighty to save! Look! Look! Here comes Jesus! Up, up, out of the grave! He’s the death-crusher, the sin-smasher! Who’s the mighty super saviour? JESUS!” Love it!
Also reading “Read-aloud Bible stories” (two volumes available) by Ella K. Lindvall. They’re the best simple child’s bible stories I’ve found. Simple yet it doesn’t miss the point of the story. Excellent illustrations too
Amy,
I’m so grateful for my parents setting such an example of this for me. Great reminder and post.
Thanks also for visiting my motherhood site. I hope you have fun designing your bubble wands. I see you around the blogosphere so it was pretty exciting when I saw your name and picture in my comments!!!
We can and do worship here there and everywhere!! Worship does not have to be boring and rigid! I have found that the best times are random, unorganized, and spur of the moment!! Miss you guys. So glad I finally learned how to leave a comment!!!
In our church we are encouraged to hold “Family Home Evening” once a week, usually Monday night. In a perfect world that would be an opening song and prayer, a scripture or thought, a lesson, an activity and a treat. What it turns in to is “a fight that starts and ends with prayer”. It’s so hard to remember that it’s the being together as a family that’s most important. My 3 year old never stays in the same room with the rest of us for the whole time. Come to think of it, neither does my 8 year old.
Thanks for the reminder to review what we are doing and maybe change some things to make it work better for us.