OK, I know I said we’d do evening routines next, and we still will, eventually. But as I’ve been working out my days, I wanted to share a little of how I go about making my daily plan.
There are certain events that happen every single day in generally the same way at generally the same time. Meals and snacks are one example– usually we eat breakfast around 7:30, snack at 10, lunch at noon, snack again at 3, and dinner at 5:30. Waking up and going to sleep in another example. I like to think of these as “targets.” Other activities I can be a little fuzzy about if and when they happen, but targets are something I aim for.
For me, spiritual practice is a target. I personally can’t afford to be fuzzy about things like praying or studying the Scripture, because if I am, it simply won’t get done. It will be crowded out by all the other daily activities that seem so immediate and necessary at the time. There’s too much Martha and not enough Mary about me, sadly. And yet, this is an area where I can scarce afford to be lax.
So, when I started thinking about what our days should look like, one of the first things I scheduled in was time for spiritual practice.
Here are the targets:
6:30- Wake up, nurse babies and have devotions.
7:30- Breakfast. After morning chores, kids have their Bible time. The littlest ones just look at their Bibles. The older kids either use the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer) method or some other Bible study.
8:30- Morning meeting, including morning prayer, whatever hymn we’re learning, and our study of Proverbs. This school year we’re illustrating our way through Proverbs. If it’s a saint’s day or holy day, we also discuss it now.
Noon- We read a psalm with lunch.
3:00- I sneak away while the kids are occupied with snack and have a little quiet prayer time.
The evenings are a little more fuzzy because it all depends on Daddy’s schedule. I never like to feel like I am planning out his time for him– he’s not another child, after all– but we have had some nice times discussing the Scriptures together as a family or singing hymns. I also like to pray with the children at bedtime, but our evening routines are a little messy and off-kilter right now, probably another reason I’ve been avoiding writing about them!
How about you? How do you work your spiritual practices into your daily routines?
