Sticking with Family Devotions Sans Children
When I had children at home, we were quite disciplined, though certainly not perfect, about family devotions after dinner. Since they grew up and moved away, our lives are less structured and Jacqui and I have sometimes gone weeks without doing them. In the recent months, I switched some things around that have been helpful for us. I am sharing what we do here so that you might make use of these things as they seem useful and also comment about what helps you.
In the first place, we have been done for a long time with devotional books. We just read the Bible, 1 chapter a day, sequentially through a book. The only other thing we use is a congregational prayer list. We pray through that, adding our family members and godchildren, and people we are concerned about or talked about at dinner, say the Lord’s prayer and then have a benediction. We also follow the congregational Bible memory work schedule, but we longer bother with the catechism. I am already reciting it every day with the school children and Jacqui also has it deeply ingrained.
To make all of this easier, and less likely to be skipped if we’re feeling “busy,” I leave the Bible and the prayer list on the table all the time. They are never put away. That way when dinner is finished (and our table has plenty of room since there are only 2 of us) I don’t have to go get it. It is ready.
Recently I added a Greek New Testament. For 32 years, I have read the Bible and Jacqui listened. Now she reads and I follow along in Greek. It is wonderful. It is challenging for me, but enjoyable thanks to this gem: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433564157/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It also fosters discussion. Jacqui is reading the NKJV. If she thinks a word is weird or seems out of place or doesn’t make sense, she asks what the Greek is. If the translators do something that seems weird to me, I bring it up. This has been a totally unexpected benefit and I think it has breathed some new life into our devotional life.