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Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the beautiful fall colors and the start of a new school year. Even though I myself haven't been in school for many, many years I still have an urge to go clothes shopping every fall because I have this sense of wanting a fresh, new start. My husband and I got married in October because, for me, it seemed like the perfect month to make a new covenant and a fresh start.
Now that the kids are back in school and everyone is getting back into a regular schedule it is a great time to set some goals with your family about what faith practices you will do together as a family.
1. Incorporate family devotions or quiet time. Find a devotional book to read together or a Bible reading plan for your family to work through. Designate 15-30 minutes a night (or start with once a week if this is new) for your family to focus in on your devotions. My co-contributer Tasha has some great tips here on having a visual element to your devotions.
2. Share your best and worst part of the day and pray for each other every day. We share our “best and worst part” of the day every night at dinner. Not only does this provide a great dinner conversation, but this also gives a great place to know how we can pray for each other. For more information on how to incorporate this faith practice check out FAITH5.
3. Incorporate the practice of blessing your family members every day. Make sure your children and your spouse go to sleep each night knowing that they are loved, no matter what. Make sure they know they are loved by you, and by Jesus. Interested in knowing more about this practice? Check out this post about blessing and how it impacted my family.
4. Enlist allies for you and your family on your faith journey. Join a bible study or small group. Get your kids involved in your children or youth ministries if they aren't already. We can't help our kids grow in their faith if we aren't continuing to grow in our own faith. It is also key to enlist other adults to help support us in passing on faith to our children. Find places where this can happen. Make regular involvement part of the routine.
5. Worship Regularly. Commit to being involved in worship on a regular basis. Worship is an opportunity for us to honor and praise God. It gives us an opportunity to learn, reflect, and refuel. It is important to model worship to our children.
What other things would you add to this list? What might your family covenant look like?
