Faith Sense

I guess everyone loves to hear a story, especially little children. So it is very important for parents, and for some reason I think especially dads, to develop the skill of telling stories. And I think the best way to develop the skill is to take the time to really tell a story. It is a tremendous way to impart ideas and inject your children and grandchildren with values and morals.

Family devotional time is a good place to tell stories, but maybe the two best places is at the table at meal time, or on an extended trip (thirty minutes or more) in the car.
Now, the storytelling I am talking about is not, at least not limited to telling fairy tales and folklore stories. I am talking about stories about your childhood, or memories of experiences with your grandparents or teachers or coaches or classmates. Talk about your first day of school, or how you had no air conditioning in your home, or places you played…

I told those stories to our girls when they were little and they loved them. Now that I tell them to our granddkids, the girls groan as though thy are bored at hearing those old stories again.

But one year for Christmas, my oldest gave me a loose leaf binder with blank pages. She had decorated the front cover with some keywords around the border, and titled the book “Tell Me A Story.” She wanted me to write down the stories I had told so that she would be able to have them and let her kids read them. It took me two years to get the project done, but that Christmas I gave it to my daughter for her gift.

My first grandson turns 14 today and he has read and reread that volume. I believe I have helped tie him to his family history and given him a sense of who he is supposed to be. When I see him at supper I think I will tell the story of how I drove 13 hours, through the snowy night in north Texas, to get to the hosptal on the 14th of January, 1993–the morning I became a GrandDad

The best part of consistent family devotional is in seeing the spiritual growth in your family! It is comforting to recognize that everyone is gaining in knowledge of spiritual, eternal things, & that those things are becoming a part of their character and their decision making process. Starting the day with God sets the best tone for the day possible.

The sweetest part of the devotional, at least for me, is to hear the innocent and heartfelt prayers of the small children. We recently had two of our grandchildren move in with us because of illness in their mother, a single mom. They will have to be here a while. They are 5 & 6. When they arrived and were learning to pray, it was always the same words and little concern for anyone but themselves. But after a time, their prayers have shifted to touching requests that God help or heal or protect someone they know that needs such blessings.

I look forward to those moments each day! And I pray for the boys to continue to develop a love and trust in God.

The best part of consistent family devotional is in seeing the spiritual growth in your family! It is comforting to recognize that everyone is gaining in knowledge of spiritual, eternal things, & that those things are becoming a part of their character and their decision making process. Starting the day with God sets the best tone for the day possible.

The sweetest part of the devotional, at least for me, is to hear the innocent and heartfelt prayers of the small children. We recently had two of our grandchildren move in with us because of illness in their mother, a single mom. They will have to be here a while. They are 5 & 6. When they arrived and were learning to pray, it was always the same words and little concern for anyone but themselves. But after a time, their prayers have shifted to touching requests that God help or heal or protect someone they know that needs such blessings.

I look forward to those moments each day! And I pray for the boys to continue to develop a love and trust in God.

One of the most important elements of our daily devotionals was asking each member of the family what they wanted to pray about that day. It was especially good for my wife and me because we got to hear the things that were on our children’s minds.

We believe that a lot of our children’s decsion making took place as a result of the time that grew out of the simple act of asking them for their prayer requests for the day. And we are certain that our family bonds were strengthened because we were all thinking and working and PRAYING about the same things.