Now there are things we try to keep from our kids catching us doing—
You know, like hiding Christmas presents or yawning when they are reading to us. What were you thinking?
But I want to tell you an act your kids need to catch you doing—your Quiet Time. Getting caught doing your Quiet Time (devotional time, Bible Study, prayer time—whatever you want to call it) and continuing to get caught is the BEST thing you can do for your kids, regardless of their age. Even if your children are grown, they need to know you have an active prayer life. I have the times I “caught” my mom or dad, praying and/or reading the Bible, burned in my brain. Seeing them do that on their own time beyond just church expressed to me their faith was real. Therefore, it was likely God was real.
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Scripture does tell us to go into our “prayer closet” to pray. Our time alone with the Lord is just that, time alone with the Lord. We aren’t to do it for show, but even Jesus got caught getting alone with the Father. If a devotional time is habitual for us, then others are going to notice it at some point.
In my time as a youth pastor, one of the testimonies that impacted me the most were two sisters who shared how every morning they woke up and went to the fridge, passing their mother at the table reading her Bible. As they grew older, they followed in those footsteps. Reading the Bible each morning wasn’t an awkward thing, but just was part of life for their family. My wife and I decided when we had kids, we hoped to create that same dynamic.
Four years ago, my wife and I committed that our Quiet Times would be become the most important things in our lives. The most important item on my pastoral to-do list was to spend time with God. At the time, my wife was a stay-at-home mom, and she decided if the only thing she got done that day was to have her quiet time, it was okay for that mattered most. She also decided that if she had to do it with our kids climbing on her head and running circles around her, she would. And she did!
Our kids now know the first thing we do in the morning is our quiet time. I’m going to be in my home office with headphones on my head, armed with my prayer journal, Bible, and a devotional book. My wife is going to be in the living room or on the deck with her prayer journal, Bible, and devotional book. Most mornings they don’t get up in time to catch us, but there are those when they do. My oldest may pull up a chair next to me and borrow one of my ear buds as I write out my morning prayer. My youngest may crawl in the lap of my wife as she reads Streams in the Desert. They also hear us “report” on what we learn or “hear” in our quiet times. They know our filled prayer journals are sacred, holding guidance God has given our family.
Our kids have caught us repeatedly. I’m so glad we were doing it because we got caught. They know we have an active prayer life, and they see it just as part of life.
So much so, my oldest asked for a “prayer journal” for Christmas and has started her own morning quiet time.
Parents, would you please let your children catch you having a quiet time.