Don’t Get up Early to Read Your Bible

No, I’m serious. If you are a mom to young children, I am sure you can understand what I mean when I say this.

You want to get up early and have some quiet time with your Bible. Five minutes (if you’re lucky to get that long) later, your baby wakens or your toddler scurries out and your quiet time ceases to exist.

Does it matter that you got up a full hour before everyone usually wakes? Nope. Your children (especially those under five) seem to sense when mom is vertical. It’s almost like they can hear the rustling of the pages.

So, since that’s obviously not an option, I have a better one.

Read aloud the Word of God together with your children.

This benefits everyone. You can get that much-needed sleep, you get to spend time in the Word, and your children spend time not only seeing their mom read from the greatest Book of all time, but they reap the benefits of hearing the Word spoken as well.

Your younger ones may not comprehend all that you are reading – that’s okay. God’s Word will be hidden away in their hearts. Plus, you are showing them the importance of the Bible in your life, which will transfer as being important to them, too (children love to act like Mommy and Daddy!).

Depending on the ages of your children, you may be able to read anywhere from one to four chapters a day (four is about my limit – any more and my throat gets tired).

I suggest pulling out special “Bible time toys” that will keep the young ones entertained (and quiet!). This isn’t a guarantee you won’t be interrupted (trust me!) but it really does help. My children are three and seven and they draw, play Lego’s, or sometimes just sit and listen (the seven-year-old).

We like to do our reading right after breakfast, but the time of day isn’t really important. Do it whenever it works for you (maybe at bedtime?). The point is to make a consistent effort to get it done every day. I find if I don’t do it first thing, the day gets busy and before I know it it’s over.

Another thing I have been doing lately, is reading a verse from the book I “wrote” called I Choose Wisdom: Declarations of Wisdom from the Book of Proverbs. It’s free – and you can read more about it here.

So no more guilt, promise? You’ll have lots of mornings all to yourself, when your kids are all grown up, and they will be quiet…and lonely.

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