It’s ‘morning basket time’ as the little ones in our home are now fond of calling this daily devotional portion of our day. The oldest girl lights the candles, there is a sense of anticipation and hush {well, almost!} and we begin with prayer. As breakfast around the table continues, we pause to spiritually fuel-up for our day.
Morning basket time has become a special highlight.
The idea is simple. Gather several devotional resources we own, place in a basket close by the table, and use often. What an easy organizational tool! Before, the materials used were around the house on different bookshelves and I often forgot we owned them or couldn’t quickly locate a certain book when needed.
So now we come together, a variety of books at our fingertips and visually available to me often so that I can plan accordingly for our week. We take about a 1/2 hr to complete morning basket gathering. Other times it’s been shorter because we are leaving the house earlier or at rare times it’s been a bit longer. The children have enjoyed more structure to our devotions. I think it has to do with the candles, really :: they’re mesmerized by the light.
Our time consists of:
Opening Prayer~thanking the Lord for the day He has given, usually by one of the children
Focus for the Day reading~I plan ahead and choose a selection for each day. Right now in our basket are these resources, some of our favorites representing the various ages in our home:
- NIV Bible
- Hymns for a Kid’s Heart ~ a great series of song books with the story of how each hymn came to be
- A copy of A Catechism for Boys and Girls ~ did you catch Josiah about a year ago answering these questions? It’s still our favorite video of him to watch!
- Training Hearts, Teaching Minds ~ a bit deeper information on the catechism for our older daughter
- Trial and Triumph ~ church history stories
- God’s Wisdom for Little Boys
- God’s Wisdom for Little Girls
- Names of our Father ~ to encourage an understanding of the various names of God
- A Child’s Book of Character Building ~ a new resource to us that is wonderful! Short stories on a variety of biblical character traits. I appreciate the variety, for example last week we read about diligence in the home, diligence at play and diligence in the Bible.
- The Big Picture Story Bible ~ the children love this Bible! The story of God’s redemption is weaved for them from the fall to Christ’s return. Before this we had not owned a children’s Bible that created this perspective for kids. It reads as one long story, which of course it is!
- Sophie and Sam, When to Say ‘Yes’ & ‘No’ ~ a rhyming text resource, excellent for preschoolers.
- The children’s gratitude journals (photo here) ~ this year I’ve decided to begin our kids on a habit that has truly changed my everyday mindset and attitude :: listing the gifts that abound. For our 3-year old, I’ll write, he’ll draw and the older girls can do their own.
- Windows on the World ~ keeping a global prayer perspective
- AWANA books ~ all three kiddos are involved in this weekly Bible club & we work on memorizing the scriptures
Celebrations~anything exciting to report! :: family happenings & such. Or we’ll use this time to work on gratitude journals.
Prayer Requests~ for ourselves or others, praying for those around the world or taking time to pray for the child in India we sponsor through Gospel for Asia.
Closing Prayer~ and blow out the candles :o)
How I love this! A simple tool of placing all resources in a primary location can be used for anyone & for any age group, including adults. Try it out in your home?
