He was the most outstanding player on the Augusta Tigers professional baseball team in Augusta, Ga., my hometown. He was considered a tough guy, and yet, he was known for his integrity. Bill has passed away now, and I have lost touch with his daughter and my friend, Beverly. Still the memory lingers.
Five of us had been invited to have a spend-the-night party at their lovely home. Beverly’s mom had fixed a delicious meal, and after we ate, we were ready to enjoy a long night of staying awake.
So often, we size people up and they turn out not to be the way we imagined them at all.
I was not prepared for Beverly’s dad to walk through the door with a Bible in his hand and invite us to sit in a circle on the floor. He explained that every night in their home, they had family devotions, and he was so glad that we all could be a part.
He called it family “Bible together time.” There’s no point in saying I remember all he talked about. It’s just the fact that my baseball hero talked about God. I can still picture that big black Bible in his lap.
As a wife and mother in later years, the memory of that night came to mind often. Up until that point, I had never visited in a home where the family prayed and read the Bible together. We did not do it in my own home. Thank God my dad was finally saved at a late age in life, but there were a lot of core relationships that could have been strengthened had Christ been a part of our family early on.
Make time for devotions
Through the years with my own children, it was hard to always find the time for these cherished moments as a family. The world tried so hard to crowd out the top priorities that make a family strong, such as spending time together studying God’s Word.
I look back now and know we tried very hard. I just hope some teen was strengthened by being in our home.
Let me suggest some ways that might help you with family devotions:
- Set aside a special time. You may not always be able to keep it, but it is too easy to skip that time if it is not allotted.
- Remember that the attention spans of children and teens is only so long. It is not the amount of time you spend but the quality.
- One pastor encourages his youth to take turns with a devotional thought. Some family members may not want to talk or pray so respect that.
- After the dinner hour, if possible, seems to be the selected time for most families, while others enjoy prayer time around the breakfast table.
- In addition to the Bible, there are so many devotional books that can add meaning to this special time together.
If family devotion time is going to be at its best, we as individuals must first get rid of the clutter in our minds and hearts that would keep us from focusing on God. As a parent, it is hard to lead when we have not been alone with God.
Often I think of that spend-the-night party long ago. I wish I had told Bill the impression he made on my life that night. He started me on a road that continues to this day — that of knowing the importance of prayer and Bible reading in a home.
He was not a preacher, but he preached in his own way. He was not afraid to open his Bible to a group of teenagers, who, after all, might have been the hardest audience to reach. I do know that he reached one.
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