Meeting With Him All Day Long

I rarely wake early to read His Word.  The babes wake up too early and I turn in too late for this to be a joyful routine.  I've tried laying scripture out before me at the breakfast table and sometimes it is devoured, but all too often it is interrupted and left unread.  I have found, through years of trying to figure it out, that once the day has rolled by, and the quiet of the evening arrives, this is the time for me to truly rest, one on One, with the Word, with a journal, in prayer.   But still there is a  fear of compartmentalizing God into a quiet time.  For if my only time communing with the Great I Am is after the babes are asleep, then their young hearts would never see their mama seeking Him in all their growing up years.  I want to meet with Him in all the moments of the day, not necessarily setting a specific time and place, but meeting with Him at any time and place.

You see, I am desperate to be filled up.   For how can I pour into the hearts of my children if I am running on empty? 

I have wondered how do this, this meeting with Him throughout the day, for this was not the pattern of my growing up home.  And so little by little, I have been learning ...

I started to post scripture on the walls and the fridge door where I'd see it and choose to read in the margin moments of the day.  I started speaking prayers in the shower and over steaming soup and at bedsides when saddened girls rest quiet. I started memorizing His Word during time at the kitchen sink, murmuring through rinsing water and bursting suds.  I started going back to my roots, to the hymns that speak gospel, and I play them loud  and sing them louder so that I don't forget where I came from or what has been accomplished for me.  I started to read snippets of inspired words from across the blogosphere that challenge and spur me on.  I started to listen to sermons, not just on Sundays, because they are only a click away all of the time...

What about you?  How does God infiltrate the moments of your day, so that your home and life is breathing His rhythm all day long?

Some Resources to Help Us Meet With Him Often in Little Ways:


Steph at Everyday Awe has designed some amazing printable resources to help us God-focus more easily.  


Good Morning Girls is an online accountability group and Bible Study that you can do with a group of your own old friends or with a group of some online new friends.  


Shawna Haak, a sweet friend and coworker, penned a beautiful post with a wonder of tips for filling yourself up with Him.

Teaching Tip Tuesday ~ Reading Aloud with the Family

Sometimes it's an event. The china tea cups are brought out and the most recent baking is displayed.  We all take our places at the table anticipating tasty delights and an adventure to another place and time.

Other times it's routine, perhaps after lunch while drawing books are added to or just before the lights turn out to close another day.

And sometimes it's spontaneous.  The girls start running a bakery complete with playdough cookies and cakes, and it just seems right to sit alongside them and take their minds to another world while their hands shape and press and play.

The greatest part of it all is that mama gets to join in too.  With book in hand and dramatic voice unabashed, I journey alongside the girls to the pages within.

Reading aloud with your children is such a special part of their childhood and youth. As parents, a part of our role is to find those books that inspire and bring wonderful ideas to our children's minds.   Books that may otherwise be passed by if we don't seek them out and bring them to our children's attention.

Many books are available and easily accessible, but how do we know which ones are worthy enough to fill our children's lives?  I've found that looking to someone who has gone before me and has done this home learning task well, is always a good place for me to start.

Read from the Heart: Whole Books for Wholehearted Families ~ I was recently able to thumb through this book and quickly realized that it needed to be a part of my home.  Sarah Clarkson gives a brief description of recommended books in various categories i.e. picture books, classics, history and biographies, fairy tales and fantasies, poetry, etc..  A resource to guide your children's reading straight through into the high school years.

Charlotte Mason Bookfinder ~  This is an online resource that lists living books that coincide with the Charlotte Mason philosophy of learning.  Whether or not you are following a Charlotte Mason approach to learning, these book lists will provide an easy reference tool to use when reserving books from your local library. Other online book lists that may prove useful include: 1000 Good Books List, and Ambleside Online.

Beautiful Feet ~ This company's website focuses on books that teach history through story.  Although many of the books are focused on American history, many of them are wonderful reads and may prove perfect for your book loving child.  Again, this online resource can be used to refer to when selecting books to reserve from your local library.

Ann Vokamp's Book Shelf ~ Ann Voskamp has compiled an online book shelf of her children's top 25 books for boys and for girls {chapter books}.  You will need to scroll down past the other excellent reads that Ann recommends for family and spiritual life, but it is well worth your effort.



How to Visit the Library:
Choosing a good book from the library is something that is gained from experience.  The more great books that you and your children read, the easier you and your children will be able to recognize a good book when you come across it. Sometimes the author's name, or the illustrations, or a browsing over the first page will give the book away.

{I remember the fine husband reading The Snowy Day to our first preschooler. Halfway through the pages he stopped to say, "There's something about this book that makes it good."  He couldn't put his finger on it, but the simple text and the classic Jack Ezra Keats illustrations somehow make this book special to share with a child.}

When visiting the library, make sure to visit the junior nonfiction section too.  This is where you will find the books categorized into topics of famous people, arts and crafts, animals, poetry, science,  geography, sports, etc.. I try to choose one book from each category to place in our book bag during our visits.

Finally, don't  forget to check out the audio books too.  When mama needs someone to read for her, audiobooks are such a blessing!  For free online audiobooks, perhaps LibriVox may work for your family.

A home without books is like a room without windows ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Related Readings for More Inspiration:
Could it Be a Storybook Year?
Read, Read, Read, Read to Your Children
Best Books for Boys: A Booklist Complied by a Boy