OBaby used to start the day slowly, in a cuddling mood, groggy and warmed from the inside by breastmilk. We would lay in bed and snuggle the morning away. At some point I would pull out OBaby’s Bible and read a story or two from it. I loved starting our days like this.
These days he is already doing toddler gymnastics before he has even unlatched from my chest and once he is done nursing he’s going 72 miles an hour straight out of the gate.
O, toddlerhood.
Like many things in his development, I don’t remember exactly when that happened, but I do remember waking up one day and realizing OBaby and I hadn’t started our day with scripture in a long time. It made me sad, but I was mostly at a loss for how to reincorporate it. Long gone were the days of sitting still.
That was until July, when I talked with DanO’s cousin (in-law) (so does that make us cousin in-in-law-laws? I’m not sure, but I know that makes us friends.) who got us the Jesus Story Book Bible that we so enjoyed reading in the morning. She told me that she and her boys (now 3½ and 1) read from the Bible during breakfast.
Uhm HI! SO. SMART. Breakfast: it’s something we do everyday, OBaby is pinned down in his chair and mostly sitting still (with the occasional about-face and escape attempt), and it’s in the morning so we will still be starting our day with the Word. I just keep OBaby’s Bible on the kitchen table and the daily breakfast menu is oatmeal, fruit, juice, and Christ.
I am learning that as difficult as it is in my own life to be intentional about reading my Bible and spending time with the Lord, it is even more complicated to facilitate that in my son’s day. This God-fearing mother job is tough work, friends, and what a blessing to hear from another mom about how she fills her children’s days with the scent of God.
I don’t know, maybe you know this breakfast with the Bible trick already and implement it in your family, but I did not grow up in a Bible-reading household so a lot of this is new to me. I am so grateful to my cousin in-in-law-law friend for sharing what works for her.
Knowing how her advice impacted my family’s daily walk with the Lord, I was excited to share it here with you. May the advice itself be an encouragement to you, or the story be a reminder to share your own routines with someone else that it may bless them.
Amen.
This is fabulous! I’ve been wondering how to incorporate Bible reading into our everyday life and both of these suggestions are just perfect. My son is still in the cuddling, waking up phase and we usually just make faces and give each other kisses in the morning before we get out of bed. I’m going to start reading now. And when he’s a toddler, we’ll implement this too!
Thank you for sharing this and reminding me that I need to start back our routine. I have an 11 year old and a 9 year old along with almost 1 year old twins and finding time to do a quiet time with them is so hard. we will have to try breakfast time too especially with school starting up.
This post was so good for us right now. I too did not grow up in a bible reading household and I want to do different for my children but sometimes I don’t know the way. Thank you for sharing this. It’s something easy that I can implement immediately. It will help me start the day with a happy heart and hopefully eventually her.
I’d also like to add that I enjoy the tone of your posts so much. The way you write always makes me feel like you are sitting in my living room saying exactly what I am reading. Love that!
This has been on my mind recently too. with my two littles.. 3 and 10 months, its HARD! I am off to the bookstore tonight after Daddy gets home for some uninterupted book finding time.. cant wait! thanks for the added inspiration!
Awesome! A great reminder. Last night I read with my 4 year old for about an hour from his Bible. It had been awhile and HE was the one who asked to do it last night. Every time life changes, I forget to reincorporate. Now that the boys share a room, bedtime reading is tough. Lunchtime used to be a great reading time…but somehow I forgot all about it…thanks for sharing!
this is a lovely, lovely idea. we have the storybook bible too – it’s so awesome. time in the mornings is tough (as our itty bitty eats at school), but there’s always room for the Lord, and we need to make time for it in our household. thanks so much for this…
Great routine! And we LOVE the JSB. I’ve bought close to a dozen of them as gifts in the last year alone!
Blessings!
What a wonderful, easy idea! Thank you for sharing it! The best habit I’ve learned as a new mama is to get. up. early. It probably wouldn’t work for those who are still up in the night with littles, but now that my son is sleeping through the night, I am able to get up at 5 or 5:30 am and have time to prepare myself physically and spiritually for the day. Some days I am tempted to sleep in, but on those days I generally don’t have time to spend with God, and I end up regretting it later!
I love this idea! It will definitely be worked into our morning breakfast routine :)
my mom always read from the Bible to the family at the end of dinner. We all listened while finishing our dinner. As a teenager, I remember thinking it was dumb, but as a kid I loved the stories, and looking back now? What a great family time together!! I love that you read O Baby’s Bible to him! Warms my heart!
I really like this. I’ve just picked up reading Morning and Evening prayer again and was thinking that I should at least read the Collects out loud with Lucy. Thanks – I love mutual inspirations. :)
Bubbettes birthday is Friday and I specifically asked for that same bible. Hopefully we get it! If not, we may have to purchase it outselves. And, I think it’s a great idea – we may have to do it with dinner though, because we’re not home for breakfast. =(
What a wonderful idea! I read my own Bible every night once Knox is in bed, but this would be a great opportunity to start reading it to him (you know, when he’s strapped in and can’t rip out the pages).
I love that idea! My children are older 5 & 3, but we do circle time with the Bible. They love circle time, but I think/hope the biggest thing that impacts them is when they see mommy get really frustrated or torn down & all I can do is stop and say, okay girls, mommy is getting frustrated so will you please pray with me? I hope that when they are older and they feel themselves unraveling that they will think of the only thing that ever worked for their mom and that was praying for strength & guidance.
Thanks Alison for the motivation! Ella is still little (4.5 mos old) and I’m trying to still read the Bible with my breakfast, but it doesn’t quite work out if she is up and going before I get done eating. If I shared the time with her though, maybe it would work better. And we would both reap the benefits! Time to bring the kids Bible downstairs!
So funny how God works – this idea just recently occurred to me, too, and I was beginning to implement it with my baby boy.
My family has always done devotions right after(or during,if we’re busy)breakfast. It’s so convinient because everyone eats breakfast so at some point, we’re all at the table. It’s great to have in the morning too because then you’re starting off the day the right way! :)
♥
That’s awesome that you’re starting when he’s still so young! Good on you!
We also do morning devotionals during breakfast. And evening devotionals at dinnertime. Our oldest (almost 7) requests 15-20min of Bible reading every morning before she gets on with her day … and I’m happy enough to oblige that I wrote it in her little daily routine in my home binder! :-D
… …. now if *I* could find a good time daily to get more Word in me LOL
{I’m NOT going to give up waking up earlier …. I’m just praying that our youngest will start sleeping in later so I can have more than 30min before she’s up. At 6:30am. With no nap. *sigh*}
that’s a great idea to do it during breakfast! that way joshua can’t eat the book or rip it, like he did his baby Bible. we need to be reading scripture more often too!
btw, i am jealous that OBaby was ever slow to wake up in the morning. joshua has been a morning person from the get-go… a.k.a. very hyper!
It is my goal too, to read the bible in its entirety. We pray every night with out son and he gets a bed time story and we have a few christian storys along with his baby bible, but i think he’s ready for a more big-boy version and I think that I will incorporate a bible verse for his soon-to-be new bible before prayer time every night!
We LOVE the Jesus Story Book Bible! They also make a Christmas book that you can use almost as an advent reading.
so awesome to hear this bible is such a blessing to so many people. i am in awe still that i was a part of it :) thank you God! another good devo for when he is older is “Blessing Everyday” part of the Little Blessings series by Tyndale.
http://www.amazon.com/Blessings-Every-Day-Simple-Devotions/dp/0879739843/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280977907&sr=1-1
You are a great mom! I know a bunch of people just said this, but what a wonderful idea (and a really great kids Bible)!
By the way I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog. Continue having fun as a mom. If you ever make it around Wheaton again, give me a call. :-)
I love this idea! I could read my bible during this time too… what a great idea. Thank you for sharing :)
such a great reminder of the impact our actions (or non-actions) can have on our little ones. thanks for this post.
Glory to God! I’m so happy this is working out for you guys. It truly is the best way to start the day. Even on the mornings (which are many) when I don’t feel like doing it, I force myself to go ahead w/ it and am always so thankful. We’re working on memory verses at the table now too, and I am being amazed as I watch Sam’s lips moving along as I read over our verses. I’ve also been encouraged as these verses are being hidden in my own heart. Love you!
What a wonderful idea! :) thanks for sharing!
What a great idea! I’ve been wondering how to incorporate more conversations about God into our daily lives. I did not grow up in church, but my husband and I both have very close relationships with God…I pray pretty much all day from the moment I wake to the moment I lay down to sleep. God is all that gets me through, well…everything! I want my children to have their own loving relationship with the Creator as well. If breakfast doesn’t work out (as sometimes it may be hard to talk and eat), time in the car may be another good opportunity. I drive my son 25 minutes to school each day, and during that time we really have an opportunity to talk. Why not listen to spiritual text in the car? You can get everything on CD nowadays. Choose a verse, listen to it and let your kids tell you what it means to them, and you share what it means to you as well. Also, spiritual music playing around the house is great too! Turn off the TV and play some music…you’d be surprised at how it can bring a family together!