Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Teaching Little Ones to have a Quiet Time



In my perfect world, I would wake up every morning at six o'clock, take a shower, exercise, and do my Bible study. Breakfast would be ready by the time my kids get up around 8, and I'd be in a cheerful mood ready to start the day. Oh and the house would be clean, and the laundry would be put away.

However, this is not generally my reality. Most mornings when my alarm goes off at six, I still feel like it's the middle of the night and in my half awake state I turn the alarm off without even messing with touching the snooze button. I'm reminding myself that I won't always feel this tired, that this is just part of being pregnant, but it can be a little discouraging to roll out of bed at 7:45, and have four hungry kids begging for my attention before I've had coffee and spent a little time in God's word.

However, instead of letting it discourage me, I decided to use it as a teaching opportunity. Now when my children are wanting to get up before I've had time to do my Bible study, I send them back to their rooms with their journal, a crayon or pen, and a Bible. If they're hungry, I'll give them a snack to take with them back to their beds. Usually they're able to spend twenty minutes or so drawing a picture for God, or looking at the pictures in their Bible. Jack a lot of times will write out different Bible verses from one of our favorite bible memory books(and no I don't make him do this, he just enjoys handwriting.) After I finish my quiet time(and my cup of coffee) I go back to their rooms and we start the day.

Yes I have had to train them a little in this area, as they would much rather be able to get up right away and start the day. However now they're used to it, and actually enjoy having their own quiet time. They get so excited showing me their pictures, or Bible verses they've wrote out. And I definitely love having a little extra time in the morning to get my heart right before starting the day.

7 comments :

  1. Wow. I hope to do this with my children when they get a little older; thank you for sharing.

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  2. Love this, Jess! Great idea! Oh yeah, and I MISS YOU!!!!

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  3. What a fantastic idea!!! Is Erik up and gone by the time you get up? I'm not sure if I could make this work for me or not...but I'm not pregnant so I really should just buckle down and get up early. ;)

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    1. Hey, Gina! It sort of depends on the day, most of the time he doesn't leave until a little before 8, but sometimes it's earlier.
      Getting up early is tough, especially if you've been up with little ones in the night(which I think we both do a fair share of!) When I start to feel guilty I just tell myself the Bible says God gives his beloved sleep.:)(psalm 127:2)

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  4. Hey! I haven't visited in awhile, but I am so glad I read this post. This is a GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing and hope you are doing well.

    P.S. Do you think it's okay to send them back with their journals if I haven't finished my SECOND cup of coffee? JUST KIDDING!!! Kind of.... ;)

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