If your family is like mine, then dinners can be a little crazy and hectic. It used to be a lot crazier when our children were younger – especially our twin sons. Trying to feed two toddlers as a family just didn’t work so a lot of times we’d just have dinner after they ate. So I have a ton of empathy for you moms and dads out there with young kiddos.
While I’m thankful our family is at the stage that it’s at (twin boys in 7th grade and another 4th grade son), I sincerely wished we could push pause on life and they’d stop growing. We have so much fun together as a family, and I enjoy the conversations I have with my boys every day.
One tradition we’ve introduced to our family is a devotional that we read each night at dinner. We normally save it for the end of our meal when everyone is close to being finished. Inevitably one of the kids, my wife or I will grab for Nancy Guthrie’s book entitled “One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters: 365 Opportunities to Grow Closer to God as a Family.”
We normally take turns throughout the week reading the devotional for the day and leading the discussion, and it’s something that I look forward to every night. After reading a short, relevant and meaningful devotion, there are some discussion questions that we ask of one another. I’m normally taken back at the insight and perspectives that my children share of how God is working in their lives. Then we read the correlating scripture verses and try to guess which part of the Bible they are from.
While the devotions only take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete, we have some great conversations as a family and it’s a great way to end our meal.
If you’re looking for a way to strike up some meaningful conversations with your family, I would highly recommend Guthrie’s book which you can easily pick up on Amazon.
