So my “quiet time” alone was interrupted this morning a little before 6 am by a coughing 5 year old – I think she has inherited my allergies and sinus congestion genes, not my best attributes.

I had been studying/praying about how I & we as a family can better love and worship God with all our heart , soul, mind and strength, and really was wanting to get back into my alone time to ponder this (guess I should go back and read in my journal about modeling to them). But, couldn’t convince her to go back to bed (the nap yesterday probably didn’t help either). So we read a couple Bible stories and then tried to lay down to rest on the couch together, which lasted about 5 minutes. She was hungry.

So we got dressed and got our breakfast and prayed to thank God for it then went outside to eat together and look at the mountains and the birds and the dog and enjoy God’s creation. Not the worship that I had pictured together as I started out this morning, but a lesson to both of us to worship and focus on God in everything we do.

A couple thoughts from this morning about individual and family worship time:

1. We need to be Intentional – plan it and think about it or it probably won’t happen.

2. We need to need to make it a priority – Make it the most important thing for our families and ourselves – above TV or games/hobbies, or whatever else. I think our time with God should be the highlight that we all look forward to. Competing with all the things of this world is difficult, especially trying to explain/teach that to your kids.

3. We need to incorporate worship into everything we do. How to balance/incorporate having fun (my kids goal in life – like their prayers, “God thanks for all the fun we had today. and/or Help us to have fun tomorrow) with the worship of God. Anyone who has figured this one out, please let me know. In the meantime we strive to do a better job of only thinking about God or of just making our time with God only when are reading our Bible in the morning and at Family Worship time in the evenings and at meal & bedtime prayers.

Noah asked me the other day if he can worship God while playing Wii – a great theological debate ensued and I am still working through that one.

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”