Devotion Dilemna

After our evening meal together as a family we have created a devotion ritual. My daughter calls it " 'votion time".

Our dilemna has been- what sort of devotion to use?

For several weeks we used The Upper Room. I liked this one. It was familiar to me and a devotional format that I grew up using in grade school, high school and college. My preschooler was frustrated because there were no pictures. My husband was irritated because as he said, "you write better than this stuff!" We have since cast aside The Upper Room.

I thought briefly - for two seconds- about using the Alive Now. Pictures yes, but stories that our entire family could relate to, well, no.

Then, last fall we used a variety of children's books on the themes of fall, nature, thanksgiving etc. As Advent approached we switched to Christmas and Advent books. But the problem was having a stack of books at the dinner table every night and trying to keep them clean while also providing room for our dining experience.

Sigh. So after the New Year I was about to give up. Suddenly, in a flash of brilliance (he has these moments) my husband exclaimed, "Let's just read the Bible." Hey, now there is an idea!

The guy two doors down from me (aka Todd) has been yaking about his Bible reading in 2009. Thus, the Knight's have joined in. But what sort of Bible to use? (I do have over 20). Our local library supplied the answer with an NIV Story Bible whose cartoons meet the needs of our preschooler. (I really didn't think of Moses as being well, so muscularly beefy, but he is in these illustrations.)

We are making our way through the Old Testament a story at a time... and everyone is content, all our needs are met, and my husband confessed recently, "You know I get more out of this Bible reading than I ever have!" (That is probably because of my off-the-cuff extra Biblical insights. Maybe its the Duke education rubbing off...or my family just really likes these cartoons.)

Whatever the reason at least we are devoting together as a family. How about you?