How We Do Family Bible Time at Our House
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Several years ago I read an article by Ann Voskamp that reached down my throat and shook some cobwebs loose in my soul.
Sounds like a pretty amazing article then, huh?
Her article, The 1 Habit at Every Meal that Will Change Your Life, was taken quite literally at my house.
Now this is not Ann Voskamp’s house. This is Jamerrill’s house and I’m sure there are many differences. For starters, I’m no Ann Voskamp. I can hardly spell “Voskamp” without looking it up every time I need to type it. (This coming from a lady with the mile-long name of Jamerrill.)
The 1 habit (And you really should read Ann’s eloquent explanation here. I won’t come close to doing it justice. My vocabulary is full of words like cool, awesome, super duper, and sure thing) that can so shake a soul is to read the Bible as a family after every meal.
When I read Ann’s words I felt dead and alive all at the same time. There was a part of me that felt dead, realizing all the meals that have come and gone and this opportunity is lost. Then part of me felt sparked and alive with the hope of all the meals that we have left.
I wanted this habit for my family.
Ann’s words: “The food served on plates is but a corpse, the dead food, and when we partake of it, we eat of the dying world. But when we eat Scripture, we eat the only real food, for Christ is Living Bread and eating He who sustains all things, sustains body and soul. When we eat His Words, we eat of the eternal world.”
Now there wasn’t a grand change. I didn’t suddenly disperse Bibles and instant a successful Bible time that instantly began flawlessly occurring at each meal. Nope. Very human here.
Like so many areas in life, I had to slowly walk this habit out with my family. Yes, here we are 3 years since I first read The 1 Habit at Every Meal that Will Change Your Life and I can tell you that we still don’t hit Bible reading after every single meal. Sometimes we miss it, but we keep trying.
As I share in today’s video, reading the Bible as a family after breakfast is a fairly solid habit. We do that most days (unless total survival mode has broken out). We usually get Bible time in at either lunch or dinner, but not always both.
And while I’ll tell you that it is not a perfect science and I fumble quite often, this has been a wonderful habit. So wonderful that we keep trying day after day, week after week, and apparently year after year.
From Instagram, “Liam was ‘teaching Amelia to pray,’ during family Bible time this morning! (That’s her fists in her eyes as she prays.)”
Tips to Start a Family Bible Time after a Meal
- Start. Just deciding to start is half the battle. Gather up some Bibles from around your home, put them in a basket or on a shelf near your table, and get started at your next meal.
- After your meal get the Bibles out. Everyone gets one, both young and old.
- Read. I mention in the video that I usually read us a martyr story from Jesus Freaks by The Voice of the Martyrs. That book has been very moving for us over these last 10 years. Then we go around the table and read from the Bible, starting in John and slowly working through. Some meals we might get 3 or 4 chapters read. Other meals we might only read 1. It’s whatever works for that particular meal time.
- At our house, little kids can move around as long as they’re listening. At Ann’s house even they recite and “read along,” as much as possible. (See the next tip!)
- Go along with whatever works. Do that. The best Bible time is what works best for you. The power is in having time in God’s Word as a family each day. That’s world changing!
I jumped up to take a picture to show you our Bible time in action. Still a few dirty plates on the table. Oh, and the lovely roll of toilet paper to serve as tissues on the back on the chair. 😉
Family Bible Time Resources
II additionally mentioned Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts. I read this book of Ann’s a few years back. In short Ann found unspeakable joy by doing what I call ‘spiritual warfare’ with thankfulness. It’s a powerful read for any mom looking to find joy between the laundry, dishes, and beautiful children. Ann is a true poet and hero.
Jesus Freaks is a book full of stories of radical Christian Living. I can’t put into words how touched I’ve been by Jesus Freaks. It’s so powerful. It reminds us daily to pray for the persecuted church.
I also talked about a powerful man of God named Richard Wurmbrand, who actually founded The Voice of the Martyrs as well.
We’ve read several of Paster Wurmbrand’s books as a family including Tortured for Christ, and In God’s Underground. Here is the full collection of Richard Wurmbrand’s books.
Share about Bible time at your house. What works for you?
