At summer camp, when I was a little girl, my favorite part was called Morning Watch. Every morning before breakfast, we’d take our little devotion books, a Bible, pencil and our sit-upons outside, find a place in the woods and spend time alone with God. It’s still one of my favorite memories–the almost-heat of the day, the noises of the woods, seeing dozens of girls around reading their Bibles, the absolute no-rush of sitting there alone with the Lord.
Now that Lydia is reading fluently and feels confident in her ability, I’ve been trying to figure out how to lead her into her own devotional quiet time. I don’t necessarily want her to sit down with a devotional book, like an assignment. But I’d love for her to enjoy that quiet alone time to write, read and focus on God and His Word.
I bought her a blank journal this summer and showed her how I like to copy Scriptures and write prayers in my journal. She loves it and thinks it is very grown up. I was going to just let her do with it as she wishes, but then I remembered this great idea of hand-written devotionals from Kat. Maybe I could take some of my old Morning Watch books and rewrite them in her journal?
We also have this lovely book called, Princess Stories which was a birthday gift from Vanessa. Each chapter is a first person retelling of a woman in the Bible–Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Naomi, Shunamite Woman and of course, Lydia. It ends with three questions–one recapping the story, one making a practical application and one discussing a thematic Scripture verse.
I actually really like this one because it’s not overly devotional-ish, it’s simple and the pictures are super cute. We read it together for bedtime but I think it would be an easy one for her to do on her own.
I think simply letting my kids see me reading my Bible in the mornings is a great way to show them how important a devotional time is. But as Lydia is getting older, I want to find some simple, age-appropriate steps that will help her find a good way to spend time with God on her own–in a way she enjoys. (Oh, speaking of which, we listened to an Adventures in Odyssey yesterday that totally ties into this, A Worker Approved. A girl tries to copy other people’s devotional time and fails miserably. It’s really fun and might even teach you a thing or two.)
Do you have any good ideas for kid-friendly quiet times?
Catie says
This is so sweet! My oldest is still a little too young for this, I think (she’ll be 5 in July). It’s definitely something to think about though–being purposeful about encouraging my children’s OWN time with the Lord.
But I’ve already put that Princess book on my Wish List. 🙂
oh amanda says
I *really* enjoyed the Princess book—my husband read 2 chapters to her one night and I said, “Uh. I wanted to read it!” 😉
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christie elkins says
Oh, Eden would love the Princess book! Her birthday is coming up, would make a great gift from her brothers 🙂 I can just hear those morning chirps and feel the cool breeze now, love summer camp memories!
oh amanda says
I wanna go back to summer camp!
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect says
That was my favorite part of summer camp, too. If I could just pull myself out of bed early, I could easily re-create that peaceful quiet time in nature. My backyard is full of trees and birds and stuff – the patio’s practically begging me to settle down and spend time with God there…
oh amanda says
I’ve actually been thinking the same thing! My little #hellomornings closet isn’t very pretty…
April says
I think, like you said, being an example and letting kids see their parents taking time to read devotionals or spend personal time with God is about the best thing we can do. I love the book about Princesses. Girls can’t get enough positive female role models so I think it would be really interesting for them. I love the journaling idea. It’s never too early to learn to write our thoughts. She will appreciate them later in life looking back.