I used to roll my eyes when I saw books with a title like, “365 Devotions for Toddlers”. I mean, what mom in her right mind could actually sit down and do a devotion with a toddler 365 days in a row? NONE.
Looking at a book with 365 on the front is just setting me up for failure! A 52 week devotional is more my style. Or even those 30 Days books because if you finish in 90 days, it still feels like a win!
However, I have found a few ways I actually do enjoy those daily books and the like.
Lemme show you where it started…
Line a Day Journal
I bought this super cute question-a-day journal for my daughter a few years ago. It’s a 3 year journal and every day you answer a question like “what’s your favorite food?” or “what made you happy today?” It’s so cute to see what she wrote years ago and how her handwriting has changed over the years.
I liked the idea so much, I wanted one. But not with questions. Just a blank space to write what I did that day or a thought I had.
I’m into my 3rd year on this journal and I love it! Just imagine a low-tech version of your Timehop app. I am surprised at how faithful I am at writing in it. It’s become part of my bedtime routine.
(And when I’m done with this one, I think I want this one to start in 2022! How weird that I’ll be done with that one in 2026?!! That’s like the Jetsons!)
This journal has led me to daily devotionals. Well, not quite those 365 devotions for moms/women/friends/fishermen/yogis/whomever books but we’ll get there!
It started off with Corrie Ten Boom’s I Stand at the Door and Knock. There are 40 short chapters, each taken from some of Corrie’s radio messages. After writing in my little line-a-day journal, I loved ending my day with these simple, short and inspiring messages. It felt like a very nice bookend to my day, and a good way to begin my rest.
After I finished Corrie Ten Boom’s book, I continued to look for books with short chapters of solid teaching. Here’s a few I’ve enjoyed:
Daily Light: Morning & Evening (each section is large portions of Scripture all put together into a “devotional” by topic)
31 Verses to Write on Your Heart by Liz Curtis Higgs (Exactly what it says. I love Liz’s books!)
Encountering God’s Heart for You: 365 Devotions from Genesis from Revelation by Diane Stortz (This is a lovely walk through the Bible and it’s titled just by 1, 2, 3 instead of date so you can pick it up whatever day it is and you don’t feel bad if the last time you opened it was weeks/months ago. Diane Stortz also wrote one of my favorite family/kids’ devotionals: I AM)
Blessings for the Evening by Susie Larson (These are very short blessings based on Scripture. I love to read them to my husband right before we close our eyes to sleep.)
My absolute favorite daily-read books are Power of a Praying Parent or Praying Wife. Each book has 31 chapters, perfect for every day of the month.
Here’s a few I have on my Kindle and have read parts of:
The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer
A Lamp Unto My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot
Streams in the Desert by LR Cowman
Daily Reflections on the Names of God by Ava Pennington
And of course, I have to mention One-Minute Devotions for Mothers from Dayspring because I WROTE SOME OF THE DEVOTIONALS IN IT! It’s one of those author-less books that just has my name in the back but I’m super proud of it! (It’s on sale for $6.50 right now!)
The more I read it, the more I like it. It’s perfect before bed because it literally takes one minute to read! (Mine might take a minute and a half–that’s me on April 3!)
So, I was looking at the book on Dayspring and saw that they made a perpetual calendar from the book. Me! In a calendar! Seriously–that’s me on March 1st!
Now I’m thinking I’m going to give everyone in my family a perpetual calendar. It’s an easy way to keep God’s Word in front of your face in your every day life.
I’m thinking this one for my husband, this one for my daughter and maybe this one for my son. Oooh, and I want this one! But, there are so many good ones at Dayspring! (And it looks like calendars are 50% off at Dayspring right now!)
Here’s the thing I’ve discovered about myself. I need accountability. So, even if the accountability is opening up my Kindle and seeing that I haven’t read in 3 days or flipping a calendar page by my sink each morning, it helps. It helps me measure how I’ve surrounded myself with God’s Word in even small ways before bed.
As we approach the new year, grab a 365 day book, calendar, devotional or somethin’ and see yourself walk through it in 2020 (or maybe even into 2021, that’s cool, too!)
